Robotech: Through the eyes of a Warhero
by Jeremy
Summary: My retelling of Robotech: Please tell me if its worth continuing, dear readers!^_^ Please R
1. Prologue: Decisions

***Author's notes: I dont own Robotech, I just write about it! ^_^ Nuff said!***  
  
  
Prologue  
  
  
June 16, 2006 Macross Island  
  
A wing of specialized, 24F Airplanes of the Robotech Defense Forces were patrolling the outskirts of Macross Island. The wingman of the patrol, Alex Lenardais, took a few moments to admire the scenery.   
  
Macross Island was a small spot of greenery in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Most of it was covered by Macross City, a city of about fifty thousand people, all either engineers, workers or military personnel. Many buildings, parks, beaches and even complex roads had been built to accommodate the ever-growing population of the island. The city was a great sight, by itself. But nothing compared to the massive, unfinished ship now officially called the Super-Dimensional Fortress One or simply SDF-1.  
  
Over a kilometer in length, the great behemoth loomed over the tallest buildings of Macross City. Although its state was far from complete, already many features of the ship were clearly defined. The bridge and control systems were situated on the top, and were nearly finished. The reactors were also in a near-prepared state. Alex could remember the awe he had felt when he had been stationed here, two years before, as part of the new Robotech garrison. It had not lessened. The ships used by the Robotech Defense Forces were about three dozen Lancer-Class Space Destroyers. These ships, three hundred meters long, armed with rail guns and heavy lasers, were well-damned impressive in themselves, yet they were nothing at all, Lenardais was quite certain, as the SDF-1 would be. It would be a fine flagship for the United Earth, he was sure. And there were other rumors that excited him. Rumors of air-space fighters able to transform into forty-feet tall robots. What was the name? Ah yes, Veritech. Whoa. He hoped to be piloting one of these fighters one day. In fact, he hoped to be part of the crew of the SDF-1.  
  
"Getting sluggish there, Al old buddy." the voice of his teammate chided over the comline, startling him away from his thoughts and plunging him directly into the brunt of very realistic patrol duty. "Hope you're not gonna get asleep in your seat." the voice mocked good-naturedly.  
  
"I passed the need to sleep at two o' clock when I was four, Roy!" Alex snapped, grinning nonetheless.  
  
"Really? ! That late?!?" Roy returned in mock dismay.   
  
"Roy, you realize this is the kind of conversation that usually ends in a gunshot."  
  
"Do I know it. But lets wait until our patrol is over. Then we'll borrow two old-style guns and walk twenty steps and shoot. As good as we are, we'll probably both die."  
  
Alex laughed out loud at the false seriousness in his wing commander's voice. Roy Fokker, although one of the finest pilots Alex had ever seen in the RDF, could not seem to prevent himself from making humorous comments at the strangest of times. The two were good friends, had been since the first meeting of the RDF garrison in Macross City in 2004. The two had been seated next to each other, and had gotten involved in a far-ranging discussion about airplanes, completely forgetting the meeting they were seated in. The discussion became more and more vocal, the two pilots caught in a difference of opinion about the usefulness of F-18s in the Gulf War. Finally, the commander of the garrison, thoroughly infuriated at the insubordination, had them report to the brig. They passed most of the night discussing and arguing, each finding things he really liked in the attitude of the other. They had been friends from that point on, rivals in just about everything. Close match-ups too. Except for two things. Alex was a true chef when it came to cooking, whereas Roy found the concept of making pies or making most of anything edible to be beyond him, while Roy was a ladies' man, whereas Alex tended to flee when he saw women coming too near his person. So Alex took to cooking in the quarters both men shared, while Roy coached Alex to rid him of his perpetual shyness. He was only marginally successful. Alex ceased to flee at the mere sight of approaching women, but he could not talk to any of them pleasantly, relaxingly. It was either in a show of military frigidness (with commanding officers) or a quaking, stuttering conversation (with just about every other female).  
  
It was a strange thing, for Alex was anything but a coward or a softy. Roy and him had taken the most dangerous assignments the base had to give repeatedly and had returned with few scratches and a mission completed over expectations every time. Those missions had tempered them, had sharpened their already great piloting skills, and had promoted them to the rank of 1st lieutenant by the first month of 2006. Alex simply was afraid of women. It was his fear, and even Roy's pushing could not yet dissipate it.   
  
"I was thinking about how great it'll be if we get to be on the SDF-1 when it launches." Alex said quietly.  
  
"When we get to be on it, my friend. When. Remember..." replied Roy.  
  
"...pessimism is for losers, not aces." finished Alex. It had become their personal phrase, wich they used when one of them was feeling down. "Hey, Roy, I'm thinking about making tortelinis for supper. You game?"  
  
"You bet, buddy!" enthused a very glad Roy. He had a taste for anything italian.  
  
"I thought you'd be." A blip on his radar made him revert to his most serious demeanor.  
"Roy, getting something on radar. Five boogies, no registration codes, no United Earth beacons. Definitely not ours, at five o'clock."  
  
"I see them. Macross Control, this is lieutenant Fokker patrolling sector 44. Have unindentified planes on radar. Presume them to be Anti-Unification. Awaiting your orders. Over." said Fokker calmly. The answer only took a few moments to arrive.  
  
"Message received, lieutenant. Engage and hold off hostiles. We are sending you reinforcements. Over." came a controller's voice.  
  
"Acknowledged, Control. Over and out." Fokker shut off the base comlink and activated plane-to-plane radio."Well, Al, ready to kick ass?"  
  
"You don't need to ask! Lead on!" was the immediate answer.  
  
Both plane kicked thier afterburners and flew towards the hostile planes. As they approached, it was clear that they had not come here on a simple, foolish purpose. Closer inspection showed blades painted on the sides of the plane.  
  
Fokker recognized this. "Damn! The Blade Conclave is stirring up again!"  
  
The Anti-Unification League was not really an organization, but rather an agglomeration of small dissident countries, terrorist groups and anarchists who happened to have the same goal: that Earth not be united. They had tried numerous times to destroy the unity and purpose shared by those countries part of the United Earth. The Global Civil War was thus skirmishes after skirmishes. Fortunately, the League was not a cooperative group, and it did not have the ressources and the manpower the United Earth possessed. Still, there were groups within the Anti-Unification League that inspired fear in any who served within the various branches of the United Earth Defense Forces.  
  
The Blade Conclave was one of those groups. Of all terrorist factions, the Conclave was one of the most ressourceful and the most ruthless. Their methods were cold and calculated. Their creed was simple: the mission must be completed. They were ready to go at any lenghts to do so. They had come to Macross Islands three times before, and each time there had been grave trouble. One knowing this could understand why Roy Fokker and Alex Lenardais were coming in wary and more than slightly anxious.  
  
Surprising to them both was that not one plane turned around to engage them. It was a complete disregard of tactics, looking much like a kamikaze run. It did not alleviate the concern the pursuing pilots were feeling. In fact, it deepened it by quite a few notches.  
  
"What the fuck are they doing? They're totally ignoring us!" cried an exasperated Alex.  
  
"They seem to be looking for something." mused Roy. "Al, you know the layout better than me. What's in this sector they could want to destroy so badly?"  
  
Alex thought about this hard, as the more powerful engines of the 24Fs closed the distance - too slowly - with the terrorists. Sector 44 was an industrial sector. Outlying houses and residential buildings surrounded different factories, rangings from fuel production to Destroid manufacture. Destroying these would be a blow to the SDF-1 Project, but not a terrible one. There must be something there. Wait. There is a fuel factory, an experimental one, with, as its power source...  
  
"A Reflex reactor matrix!" Alex shouted the thought outloud.  
  
"What about it?" asked an anxious Roy.  
  
"There is a factory there which is powered by reflex technology! If they blow it up..."  
  
"They'll end up destroying it, and half of Macross City with it." Fokker finished grimly. Alex could almost hear the wheels turning rapidly inside his friends head. He finally spoke again.  
  
"All right. Lets switch to turbo mode. That way we'll catch them before they reach striking distance." It was a sound plan, but it had one problem. The turbo mode added speed but also drained power from the weapon systems, effectively bringing offensive capabilities to their bare minimum. It was not a pleasant prospect, this five-to-two fight with minimal weapons, and Alex said so.  
  
"I know! At least we can keep up the fight until the damn reinforcements get here." Roy sighed on the comlink. "Anyway we don't have a choice, now, do we?" Without waiting for an answer, Fokker switched to turbo mode and surged ahead, ever faster. Three seconds later, his plane was joined by Alex's. For Roy Fokker was right: there was no choice in this. Not to pilots of the Robotech Defense Forces.  
  
They charged ahead, their speed reaching a level as yet unheard of in any other airplane of the time. That got a reaction from the pilots of the enemy planes. But not a fighting reaction. Instead, they went full thrust towards the factory. I was right, thought Alex, that is their target.   
  
Even with the enemy flooring- if one could say that- the gas pedal with abandon, the two 24Fs rapidly gained on them, finally coming within striking distance of the hostile crafts. Roy was the first to strike, launching a volley of homing missiles to the nearest plane. The pilot of that plane tried to turn and dodge the attack, but it was already too late for him. he took the full blast, disintegrating into a great ball of incandescence. Three planes changed direction to engage them at this. It was obvious they were protecting the lead plane, so it could make its run. If they took the time to tangle with those three, half of Macross City would be blown all the way to tomorrow.  
  
Taking about thirty thousand or so people with it in the deal. It could not be allowed to happen, never!  
  
"Al, go stop the lead hostile! I'll deal with these three jerks!" shouted Roy over the com, obviously having reached the same conclusion. Alex hesitated briefly, torn between the concern he had for his friend and his inescaple duty. It was a hard decision, that needed an harder push to prompt  
  
It was Roy, of course, who did the pushing. "GO! I'll be fine! GO, DAMNIT!!!!" he shouted. Alex wasn't sure Roy would be fine in a three-to-one fight, but he decided that his friend would find some way to make it. Decision made, he switched back to turbo mode and dove between two enemy planes with a show of ability few pilots could duplicate.  
  
The lead hostile had made good time with Alex's hesitation. He had actually reached striking distance. Alex knew with a sinking heart that he would most probably be unable to stop the factory's destruction. Behind him, he heard a great explosion and knew one of the planes had bought it. He fervently hoped it wasn't Roy. Then there was no time to think anymore, as he reached striking distance with the enemy craft.  
  
He didn't dare use any missiles at the extreme range he was, and the 12G Autocannon lacked this ranging power. This left the lasers, which could only be aimed manually. The pilot in front of him seem to know this, as his flight was erratic, designed to keep him off-balance, unable to aim. But there was no choice, he powered the laser imbbeded in the bodice of his plane. A manuel targeting information glowed to existence on the on-board computer screen.  
  
Manual Laser ACTIVE  
  
Power Cells: 56%  
  
Aim percentage: 38%  
  
Great, he had only one good shot, and only a one -on- three chance to hit the bastard. He tried to get closer, see if he could get a larger target. Then the enemy plane launched his first two missiles, right onto the factory. Alex screamed in rage, both at himself for his lack of decisivness and at the enemy for its actions. Using all of his aiming skills, he pressed the manual firing button. The airplane shuddered as a beam of light shot toward the enemy plane.  
  
Was it skill or luck? Alex never could tell for certain. To him, it was probably more the latter than the former. The laser beam scorched the left turbine of the enemy airplane, causing it to explode. To Alex's surprise, the rest of the craft did not go up with it, but spiralled out of control, and crashed unto the sea, just fifty yards off Macross City's port. After a quick glance, Alex forgot about it altogether. He scanned the factory reactor. What the computer told him was as far from his liking as he could make it.  
  
Reactor type 12 G.U.N.F  
Power Type: Reflex Reactor  
Status: Damaged  
Extent of Damage: 43%  
Meltdown possibility: 100%  
Time remaining: 12 seconds  
  
Retreat Advisable  
  
The asshole had only launched two missiles, but he had made them count. Damn him to hell! The godbedamned factory was going to blow up, taking thousands of people with it! Behind him, the noise died down. The battle over there was over, for the little it meant right now.  
  
Time remaining: 10 seconds  
  
Think damnit! I can't let this happen! Gotta find a way to stop this nightmare. Gotta find it. GOTTA FIND IT! These thoughts whirled throught Lenardais's mind, useless, intangible, riveting him to place. There was no WAY he could stop the explosion, he knew. Then he heard Roy Fokker's voice over the com.  
  
"What are you freakin' doing?!? Get out of there! Its going to go sky high!"  
  
Time remaining: 8 seconds  
  
Sky High. Sky High. SKY HIGH??? Thats IT!!!! He couldn't stop it, that was an established fact. But, by launching all of his missiles in a circling pattern, he could force the explosion upward, so that the residences wouldn't be touched. He had to fire it from his position, right on top of the factory, the nose down. The fact that he would die was buried under the pressure he suffered as he entered the commands.  
  
Time remaining: 3 seconds  
  
It was ready. Alex said his good-byes to the world at large. On the com, Roy shouted something, but by that time, Alex had retreated to the resigned peace of those who are dead, who know it and have accepted it. He fired.  
  
Time remaining: 1 second  
  
The missiles flew in a wide circle, exploding upon impact just as the reactor itself exploded. The force of the circling fireball worked the miracle, and the energy was directed upward. Alex could only wonder at the pure witheness that flooded his vision, knowing that this was what it was to "go out with a Bang!". He braced himself....  
  
Only the whiteness cleared. Blinking, disbelieving the obvious fact that he had survived, the pilot righted his craft and looked around.   
  
And found himself, quite simply, into the middle of a warzone.  
  
A warzone, he realized in horror, that was the shattered remains of Macross City  
  
***********************************************************************  
  



	2. Chapter 1: Confusion and Departure

Chapter 1  
  
?????????? Macross Island  
  
To say that Alex was taken aback means absolutely nothing. His bewilderment and dismay was reaching new heights by the second. The Macross City he knew was all but gone around him. The buildings around him had been ravaged by, from what he could make of the markings and the scorches, high-density bullets, missiles and a type of beam weapon he could not recognize. What was happening? Did the Anti-Unification League launch a massive campaign? The pilots of his garrison had always doubted they could do so, as there were not a coherent group, and no single group had the resources to risk a campaign of this magnitude. Alex had been in complete accord with these theories. But what he saw around him seemed to disprove them.  
  
The battle had ended here, or rather had been carried on elsewhere. From the sound of it, it was moving west, towards the SDF-1. He turned his plane in its direction, hoping to assess the situation more fully and do something about it. He looked out toward the SDF-1. And for a long moment, his mind froze with what he saw.  
  
The ship is completed! THE FREAKING SHIP IS COMPLETED!! He thought wildly when he could think again. It was the truth. There were no holes in the hull now, no incomplete parts. A white and blue ceralloy paint covered what was once a dreary green. It flashed brightly in the sun, the very symbol of power and strength Alex had expected. But it was not supposed to have been completed. It just wasn't! But...yet it was clear that it was!  
  
How long did he stay locked in total confusion, Alex could not say. But the confusion was so total, so consuming to him that he did not see the enemy until it jumped in front of him, firing. Instinctive survival and innate piloting skills took over then, as he swerved to one side, avoiding the attack by mere inches. His surprise was no less great when he registered what had attacked him. It was a mechanic construct, strangely ostrich-like, with nimble mechanic legs. it stood about fifty feet tall, perhaps more, and had two very dangerous looking cannons on its front. It had obviously tried to shoot him with that. And it was ready to try again, aiming at him.   
  
The attack had been so sudden that he barely had the time to think. Alex did so now, furiously. He did not have any weapons to speak of. The laser was unusable, his missiles were gone, and the type of auto cannon he had as the secondary weapon would not, if what he saw was true, make a dent on the ostrich's armor. Not being a pessimist, the pilot tried to find a way to get himself out of this mess. More easily, he dodged a second attack, then a third. The pilot aboard the strange vehicle, if there was any, was not of the most imaginative kind, though he was rather brutal. Even with the simple mindedness expressed by the enemy pilot, Lenardais knew he could not dodge forever. Sooner or later, a lucky shot would get him, and it would really be all over.  
  
Then the enemy vehicle was attacked from behind by something Alex could not make out with the smoke that clung to about everything around. The enemy tried to turn around to reciprocate, but a second burst of what the distraught pilot recognized as a sort of powerful auto cannon - much more powerful than the one he had - destroyed it in a an impressive blaze. Alex sent his silent thanks to whoever had shot the... thing... which had been attacking him. The unit that did so stepped forward, and once again Alex Lenardais, a veteran combat pilot found himself paralyzed with disbelief at what his eyes beheld.  
  
The new vehicle was humanoid in shape, over forty feet tall, brown and white in color with a large, fuming cannon in one hand. It was an entirely mechanical construct, possessing the obvious elements of a plane within it. Or more like integrated inside the structure of the mecha itself. The design was awfully familiar. He had seen design parts of it, had worked with engineers on this very sort of transformable fighter. But until then, he had never thought this machine would work. But it obviously did. A machine with a name he had been thinking but thirty minutes before: Veritech.  
  
But how could this be? The High Command had hinted a Veritech prototype had been built, waiting to be tested. Could this be it? He couldn't believe the High Command would let such a precious device go out without testing. What the hell was going on here?!?  
  
"Command Delta to unidentified aircraft. You are ordered to identify yourself immediately!"  
  
The voice of a woman coming from the radio brought Lenardais's scattered attention back to the present. The voice was obviously young yet held strength and command and not just a bit of irritation. It was a voice the pilot did not recall from earlier communications, and that only added to his distress. But with the distress came a mounting frustration, that had reached dangerous levels with the let-in and the let-out of adrenalin he had been periodically suffering from for the last thirty-five minutes now. It came out when he heard what was -to him, at least- an arrogant, senseless demand for identity.  
  
"Can't you see I'm a United Earth pilot and not the enemy? This is 24F-13G of the Macross Garrison. And before you even ask, I am Alex Lenardais, First Lieutenant and a certified RDF pilot!" This all came up in an irritated, but somewhat hysterical voice. Lenardais had been subject to a lot of pressure and events in too little time, and he was wearing down quickly, mentally and physically. The person on the other side was either surprised or angry at the outburst, for she kept silence for a long moment. But it did return, only this time it was somewhat restrained, somewhat...colder than before. Alex could only wonder at the mechanized air the communications people could produce.  
  
"Very well...lieutenant. Falcon four will escort you to the SDF-1 third hangar. You will then remain there until further orders. Understand?" the last order was snapped. The pilot saw it was better not to argue.  
  
"Yes, ma'am." he answered dully. The link was cut. The mecha below him suddenly changed modes, becoming a somewhat larger and much better-armed plane than his, yet comparable in outlook. It took a position right before him, slightly to the right. A male voice than rang out of the radio.  
  
"Follow me, sir." the voice said.  
  
Alex did. Both planes made a wide loop around the city center - now nothing more than piles of rubble - to avoid the various combat zones. Looking down, Alex could see many of the strange ostrich-like mechas striding about exchanging fire with robot-mode Veritech. There seemed to be no people left - civilians that is. They had probably gone to wait out the battle in the various bunker-like shelters built below the city. Either that, or they had been killed. Not a good thought. Very depressing. Lenardais was beginning to think - to fervently wish - that this was all a nightmare, that any minute he'd be shaken awake by a teasingly cheerful Roy Fokker, telling him "Rise and Shine, Wonder of the North." as he always did when he slept late. Yet, he knew, with dreadful certainty, that this was all the truth.  
  
They finally came to the third hangar of the SDF-1. A nice hangar which Lenardais remembered as barely half-completed. He touched down and immobilized his plane. He then cut off the power, opened the cockpit, and waited for the retractable ladder to stretch out to the floor. He descended. He was just descending when he felt the ship rise. They were taking off. The SDF-1, as impossible as it may seem to Lenardais, was actually taking off! This was becoming too much to take at once. He nearly fell of the ladder, so weak he suddenly felt. As it was, he barely managed to get down in one piece. He went down on the deck heavily and sat there, aware of many curious eyes upon him and far too drained to care. His mind was wildly spinning, and he put his head down in his hands to calm himself. He tried to adjust himself to what he had experienced. It was far from an easy task. A noise of tearing metal made him look up quickly, once again bringing him back sharply to the present. A woman's voice came hastily from the COM.  
  
"The Anti-Gravity engines have failed! All hands brace for impact! Repeat: all hands, brace for impact!"  
  
"What? The ship's falling?" asked a technician, as others around him went about grabbing something solid.  
  
Give the guy a pat on the back for stating the obvious, thought Lenardais with a sneer as he grabbed the ladder of his plane for support. The fool saw his question would not receive an answer and finally braced himself. Then the shock of the landing swept just about everyone's feet from under them. Swearing and cursing, the technicians and the few pilots present struggled to their feet.  
  
Alex had also been brought to the ground, and as others found himself swearing as he got up. The anti-gravity engines had failed, huh? In his mind, they weren't installed at all. Another unsettling piece of information for his overwrought mind. Fed up with being so lost, fed up with the helplessness he felt, the young man firmly pushed this far to the back of his mind and composed himself. If they managed to lift off, he might have a chance to have explanations later. As of right now, he had to be fit and ready for anything. He analyzed the situation from what he had seen thus far.  
  
All right. Macross City is under attack by enemy forces. Hmm. From what I saw, the enemy utilizes craft that are much inferior to the Veritech fighters we obviously use, as much as I don't want to believe it. Now, I'd say a veritech can hold its own against maybe three of these...ostriches...but from what I've seen, the odds are far worse than that. If the SDF-1 took off, we would regain something like an advantage. He stopped. He had reached the very much sensitive condition that would be pivotal for this battle: The SDF-1 just had to take off.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
The situation on the bridge of the SDF-1 was more restrained. After all, these were officers who knew what was going on around them and who had not cheated death quite literally. Even so, the tension had been almost solid ever since the aliens had appeared. The automatic firing of the main guns had frayed everyone's nerves, and the subsequent attacks had only made matters worse. And now, with the anti-gravity system ripped out of the ship, a streak of panic had inserted itself, slowly drowning the officers in dread.  
  
Henry Gloval, Fleet Captain and commander of the SDF-1, felt this wind of panic just as much as the other officers around him, he only did not show it. Decades of military service had strengthened his strong willpower into the thickest of iron. It had drawbacks; sometimes he appeared unfeeling, although he was as far from the case as could be put. However, right now this iron will was useful, as he maintained his calm despite the situation. He had reached the conclusion a far younger pilot had reached: the SDF-1 had to take off. And there was only one way to do so. Gloval turned to Lisa Hayes, a brilliant brunette who was his second-in-command.  
  
"We have no choice." he said to her steadily. "We must use the main engines and go out into space. I don't like it, and the risks remain to us, but we might buy the United Earth Forces more time to activate their defenses." How great and confident you sound, Henry. A very nice little speech. But who are you encouraging here, your officers or yourself?  
  
"What if the main engines don't work sir?" asked Lisa. Gloval did not respond to the question directly. He did not need to. The six people of the main bridge were more than bright enough to know what would happen.  
  
"They'll work, Lisa. They weren't made on Earth." Gloval stated, somewhat wryly. It was true, thought.   
  
Lisa, ever-efficient, did not hesitate. "Aye sir. Activating engines now." The bridge became active again. Lisa and Claudia Grant, a tall African woman who was third-in-command, went about the business of activating the main engines. Vanessa Leeds, the Communication Analyst, was keeping track of the battle and of the alien fleet in Earth's Orbit. Kim Young, the Ship Administrator, was intent on the status of the vital parts of the SDF-1 and Sammie Porter, of the Internal Communication, was speaking with the Chief Engineer of SDF-1 on the matter of the main engines. The words exchanged between the five officers were few. Everything was well meshed, calm and professional. Gloval saw that the bridge officers had been well chosen, for they worked very finely.  
  
"Engine activation in ten...nine...eight...seven..." Lisa droned on calmly, as everyone else on the bridge, even Gloval -inwardly- tensed in anticipation. If this didn't work, they were all dead, that much was certain. If they could lift off, hope, however slim, would remain.  
  
"Three...two...one... activation!"  
  
At first nothing happened, and Gloval's heart sank a little. But then a rumble was heard, and the ship started to lift from the ground again. The captain heard a sigh of relief behind him. He did not turn to see who it was. He felt like doing the same action, but his personality prevented him from making it so. Still, he was glad all had turned out well.  
  
All had turned out well. He had to admit that nothing was well still. With thousands of enemy ships over their heads and a battlefield below, it certainly was no time for elation.  
  
"Vanessa, what is the battle situation in space?" he inquired.  
  
The glasses-wearing slim brunette did not turn around to give her report. She kept her attention on the screen were details were constantly changing. Her voice was calm if hurried. Her report was to-the-point and direct.  
  
"According to sensors, ARMD two and three are destroyed, ARMD one is slightly damaged but maintaining position. However, sir, only a dozen space destroyers remain battle ready."  
  
"In short, we're getting wiped out." This was from Claudia, prompt to comment shrewdly on grave situations.  
  
"Looks that way." admitted Vanessa.  
  
"It is a very depressing thought, " said Gloval, "but I must admit I am not surprised of this."  
  
"What do you mean, sir?" asked Kim. Gloval turned to her for a moment, then calmly walked to his chair. For a moment, it seemed he would not elaborate. But fiddling with his pipe -smoking was a vice he delved into eagerly- the captain finally spoke.  
  
"From Vanessa's first report, we must assume that the enemy fleet totals one hundred thousand ships. Let us take it as an established fact. Now, our fleet numbered, at full strength, four ARMD platforms and eighty-seven space destroyers. This makes an approximate that is most distressing: more closely, over a thousand-to-one odds. What would you think of our chances?"  
  
"Slim to nonexistent, depending on what was the level of technology of the larger fleet." stated Lisa. The captain nodded.  
  
"And since we can safely assume that their level of technology may approach the SDF-1, we may say our overall chances are, simply put, nonexistent."  
  
Very silent it was on the bridge then, as everyone on the bridge reflected on this bleak truth. Sammie then looked toward the captain chair and asked the question that bothered everyone.  
  
"Um, sir, then why haven't they simply destroyed us?" she piped.  
  
"Why, indeed?" mused Gloval, lighting his pipe. Normally Sammie would have told him - as she had before - that smoking was prohibited on the bridge but everyone - including her - was too preoccupied to care.   
  
"They want this ship captured, else they would have stopped our leaving. They also seem to direct their attention on the SDF-1 solely. There must be something of this ship or on it which important to the aliens. There, lies, I must say, our glimmer of hope."  
  
"But what if you are wrong, sir?" asked Claudia.  
  
"We will know whether my theory proves correct soon enough, my dear." replied Gloval with determination in his voice.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Lenardais felt that the ship was powering up its engines, and deduced that the commander of the SDF-1 had decided to leave the old-fashioned way. He hoped that this time the ship would continue to go up instead of going back down. He knew the people around him shared his opinion on the subject. He had ordered his plane removed and stored, in the most probable case the space it occupied would be needed by a more essential fighter. That done, and with nothing else to do, he decided to go to the bridge.   
  
He asked for directions from the computer and got on his way, leaving behind a very active hangar deck. He was a bit far from his goal, as such he had the time to marvel at how vast this ship was. Then an idea suddenly took hold of him. It was one he had had before, but it had been pushed away by all the other events he had had to cope with in the very recent past.  
  
He stopped at the first computer monitor he found and switched it on. He then typed in his request.  
  
Give me the current day, month and year.  
  
He almost did not send it, so downright scared he felt about the answer. His finger stayed poised over the 'send' button until, with an almost wild mental push, he decided to stop cowering like a child and to find the truth in the matter. He sent his request. He did not wait long, barely a moment, and the answer appeared on the screen before him, as big and as real as life.  
  
16 of February, 2009  
  
It was like his entire world suddenly came crashing down on him. He was two and a half years later than he had been an hour ago! No wonder the SDF-1 was completed. No wonder there were Veritechs roaming around. In two or three years, it must have easily passed from prototype to mass production. Lenardais had survived the explosion, but somehow it meant nothing to him. He felt like no less than a frightened child for a moment. Fortunately such moments pass quickly to a combat pilot, who is trained to expect the unexpected. He gathered himself, his senses spinning, his mind locked on automatic drive. Somewhat like an automaton, he continued his way to the bridge.  
  
It was only a matter of time, of course, before his mind and thoughts caught up with him. Two years and a half! he raved blindly. They must think I'm dead. My parents, my sister, my friends, everyone I know. But I'm dead, ain't I? Or I'm supposed to be. Is this real? 2009! This is terrible. My stuff must be wrinkled. Did I get a decent burial? Wait, how can they bury me if I'm not dead?. Arrrgh!! Stop, STOP IT!! Pull yourself together. Deal with the here and now!  
  
His thought had been such a whirlpool of confused musings that he heard someone calling to him only diffusely. He paid heed only when the voice returned, stronger this time.  
  
"Are you all right? Are you wounded?" asked a black-haired young woman in a blue uniform. A lieutenant like him. She sounded concerned about him. It was then that he actually remembered where he was. On the bridge, most likely. With five women and one man regarding him with varying degrees of curiosity and irritation. Being surrounded in a very actual sense by a female-dominated group did not suit his weakened state of mind, who reminded him that he had a chronic, unexplainable fear of women. Being the sudden center of attention did not help any.  
  
"N...nn...no. I'm fine, thank you. Just kinda lost, I think." he replied, trying to put his chronic fear to rest as he answered the question. He did not meet her eyes exactly, just fixed a point that looked as if he did meet her eyes - a good tactic for him in such circumstances.  
  
The only man on the bridge, the captain obviously, walked toward him. Lenardais put himself at attention and saluted, briefly examining the man. He was taller than he, in his early fifties probable, with a graying black mustache and eyes that, while not cold or unsympathetic, were almost glowing with command and strength. The captain saluted him briefly, then quietly regarded him for a moment. The women went back to their respective duties.  
  
"At ease lieutenant." the mustached men said with a heavy Russian accent. "It is quite normal to get lost in such a ship like the SDF-1. But let me ask you your identity."  
  
Alex complied, thought he knew not what the reaction would be. "I am first lieutenant Alex Lenardais of the Macross Island Garrison."  
  
The captain nodded, then started as if he had remembered something very peculiar. Both men did not see the African woman in a green uniform turn sharply, in shock, when Alex had told his name.  
  
"Correct me if I am wrong, lieutenant," said the captain, watching Lenardais intently "but would you be the Alex Lenardais who saved half of Macross Island from a Reflex explosion in 2006?"  
  
Not being the kind to lie when the truth was so blatantly told, Alex could only nod in response. A startled gasp caused both men to turn around in alarm. The African woman was looking at Lenardais with a pale face and wide eyes, causing the pilot to get nervous under this type of scrutiny. What was worse, this drew the attention of everyone else on the bridge again.   
  
"But, this can't be!" said the staring African. "You're dead! Roy told me you had died while saving the city!" This drew stares from everyone on the bridge. Shocked stares, except for the captain, who remained quite calm. He had a pipe in his hand - Alex had not noticed it before - and he calmly took a puff of it before speaking again.  
  
"That's right, Claudia. This concords to the reports and rumors I heard of this incident. Among the things I've heard - beside you being the model for cadets everywhere in the RDF, the most important detail was that you did not survive the explosion but that you were vaporized."  
  
"I don't know how to answer that, sir." replied Lenardais truthfully. "The only thing I do know is that what is an historic event to you, to me is something that happened just over an hour ago. That's all I can say."  
  
That drew a comment from the brunette next to the one named Claudia. "Are you saying you are out of the past. A time traveler?"  
  
Alex had not really considered that. Yet, this had to be it. Maybe Reflex technology was related to time or some sort of nonsense. He didn't know, he wasn't a scientist. But an answer was needed to the question. Steeling himself, he launched ahead. "Yes ma'am.", he said formally and politely, in a perfect show of military rigidity. "That is my only theory as of now."  
  
The brunette looked at him dubiously, then nodded and turned back to her consoles and monitors. To her, it was clear, the subject was closed. The same might not have been said of Claudia, who looked at Alex for a long moment before turning back herself. He was wondering about her, and her relation to Roy Fokker - it had to be him - when the captain talked to him again.  
  
"This is a very peculiar event, to be sure." he said. " However, we might need a hand on the bridge as of this moment, and since you don't have anything else to do, we will use you. What is your secondary talent?"  
  
"Well, um, tactics, sir."  
  
"Good. You will then help lieutenant Leeds for the time being." the man gestured toward a console on the side of the bridge, where a slim brunette with glasses was studying different sets of radar screens. She looked quite busy, and disturbing a woman was not something Lenardais did for fun, far from it!. But an order was an order, and this certainly was no time to act like a child.  
  
"Aye, sir." he said, turning to the side and walking to stand beside - and just behind - the woman at the console. His intention was simple and should have worked: He'd look at the screens, make up a few theories about what they said, then wait until asked about them. That way, he would not attract attention and would not immerse himself in a world he did not know. When he had said tactics, he meant battle tactics, in the field, not tactical analysis! It was thus a very logical plan to stay somewhat away from it all.  
  
It didn't work. The young woman noticed his lagging back and called out to him. He had no choice but to come forward to stand right beside her. He busied himself with the monitors - not really looking at them, but pretending to - for long moments, while the officer was busy typing commands into her analysis grid. Not really knowing why he did, he turned to stare at her. He stared.  
  
And stared.  
  
And stared.  
  
By most male descriptions, Vanessa Leeds - he did not know her first name yet, but soon would - was a very cute woman, although not really beautiful. Her expressive green-blue eyes and short brown hair - not to mention her lithe figure - always made a nice impression on guys. But to Alex Lenardais, she was beautiful, extremely so. To him, her face was angelic, and her eyes were pools of green-blue light he felt he could loose himself in. Her lithe figure clicked something within him too, but it was her face, and mostly her eyes, which fascinated him in such a way.  
  
"Be careful not to trip on your jaw on the way out." said an amused voice.  
  
Reality reasserted itself. It had not been lieutenant Leeds speaking, but the black-haired officer seated not far from her. Leeds and Lenardais both turned to her as she spoke, one in puzzlement, one in the most complete dismay. The raven-haired girl - a real cutie herself- was looking at Alex with an almost menacingly teasing gaze. One of her eyebrows was raised mischievously, giving a twisted suggestion on what he had been staring at, and what he had been thinking. To his credit, he did not shoot himself - he didn't have a sidearm, anyway - but instead flushed light rose and swiftly looked up to the monitors with such an intensity that it was a surprise they didn't melt. He heard a short hushed discussion between lieutenant Leeds and her comrade and felt her look up swiftly at him. He turned from rose to dark red when he heard the soft giggles emanating from the two control desks occupants.  
  
This is so godbedamned GREAT! I'm making a fool of myself and I've only been on this bridge a few minutes. he cursed silently. That's why I prefer the company of men - if you stare at them they ask if you're ok, they don't gossip around like the people here do.   
  
Ah, but women are soooo beautiful, even when you're scared witless of them. said a small part of him. He squashed the thought quickly, but he knew that was the truth. As far afraid of women he could be, he was anything but a homosexual.   
  
Oh, well, life is always full of weird things...  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
While Lenardais was philosophizing with himself, an old friend of his was coming back from a mission he had given himself.  
  
"Skull One to Control. " said Roy Fokker "I'm returning. Over."  
  
The answer form Lisa Hayes was quick but tinged with annoyance and suppressed irritation.  
  
"Did you find him, commander?" her voice was such that if he had said no, he was almost certain she would have shouted 'hurray!'. He smiled. Rick really had a knack for making people love him sometimes! He almost hated to disappoint her, so he chose to make light of the matter.  
  
"He was annoying a young lady, so I had to rescue her as well." he responded.  
  
"You rat!" said Rick Hunter hotly. Being treated like an incompetent was not to his liking.  
  
"So, there's the civilian." mocked Lisa. "No wonder he couldn't utilize his Veritech properly."  
  
That's when he said it. Rick Hunter always found great rebukes and sarcastic jibes at the worst of times. This was one of them. "Who's the old sourpuss, Roy?"  
  
"OLD SOURPUSS!" shouted Lisa, but whether it was in anger or complete shock was hard to say. It could have been both. Still, Roy found it to be a good one.  
  
"Heh. This is our communication manager, lieutenant-commander Lisa Hayes." He smiled then. "And if you think she's an old sourpuss than you're not as grown up as I thought you were." he laughed then, just a moment, but it was enough to make Lisa explode directly in his face.  
  
"Commander Fokker, you had better have an explanation for letting a civilian pilot a Veritech!" she shifted her ire to Rick. " And you mister Hunter, you're in big trouble whether you know it or not!"  
  
"Ouu, she's mad." said Fokker, more to himself. This wasn't good, in a way. Making Lisa Hayes angry was always an event to be avoided. Yet, he was glad of this time to relieve the tension all the same. The chorus of snickers that he faintly heard seemed to say the bridge crew agreed with him on that point.  
  
Rick mumbled something about everything being Lisa's fault, while her passenger - Lynn Minmey - said that he should apologize, for women her age get awfully mean. Lucky he had blocked comtransmissions coming from them, or Commander Hayes would really have killed them all for it!  
  
"Well, now, do you have a place where we can land or not..." Roy found the new nickname to irresistible and went in teasing. "...you old sourpuss?" Then he laughed. Snickers erupted anew from the bridge but Lisa silenced them with her Look of Ice. She turned back, fuming, to the vid screen to face Roy.  
  
"Affirmative." she growled. " Take landing bay 5-0-4. Over and out." The screen went blank.  
  
Now we're in for it. thought Roy grumpily. He directed the Veritech toward the designated landing bay.  
  
"Rick?" he said.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You talk too much." And so do I.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Orbiting the Earth, surrounded by thousands of vessels just as big - if not as powerful - as the SDF-1, was the immense Flagship of the Zentreadi fleet. Six times as large as the SDF-1 and six times more heavily armed, this green-hulled behemoth's sensors were directed towards their goal - the Earth Flagship. Two men - almost relatively normal if not for their size - 30 feet tall and 45 feet tall - were contemplating the information.  
  
"So, what do you think, Exedor?" asked the taller man, a blue-skinned man with his right eye covered with a metal plate. He was Breetai, commander of the Zentreadi Fleet.  
  
"It would appear the land attack has not discouraged them, sir." mused Exedor, a very brilliant Zentreadi. "I propose to shift to a more aggressive posture."  
  
Breetai crossed his arms, considering this. He was under orders from Dolza, the High Commander, to bring back the ship they were monitoring undamaged. But there were many smaller ships around it now - two of which were in the middle of a docking maneuver. Destroying them would show these...micronians... what they were really up against.  
  
"Perhaps you are right, Exedor." he said finally. He immediately called up his weapons officer and gave him his strict orders.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
The bridge had quieted down after the Ice Look. Now everyone was focused on the docking of the ARMD platforms one and ten to the SDF-1. The aliens had made no further moves against the Earth Fleet, which struck many officers - and especially Captain Gloval - as simply too odd.  
  
"They have the advantage but they don't attack. There must be a reason." he had said, and many had seemed inclined to agree.  
  
Vanessa was one of those who agreed the most with this theory. What the radar screen showed was an almost one hundred thousand enemy vessels, enough to pulverize the whole Earth Fleet in seconds. There was no way the enemy could be holding back out of fear. Was it because the SDF-1 had originally been one of their ships? Perhaps. But then again, the reason could be other than that.   
  
As she worked, she felt lieutenant Lenardais turn hesitantly to Claudia, then walking to her even more hesitantly. Vanessa didn't know what to make of him. He seemed on edge on the bridge, yet contrastively he had looked at her with rapturous abandon - at least if Kim was right. Knowing her younger friend's somewhat mischievous style, she could not take that for granted. But he had turned beet red when they had both looked at him.  
  
The short conversation with Claudia ended, and Lenardais started to walk back to his previous place. Vanessa looked him over subtly as he did so. He was of slightly-higher-than-average height, relatively well-built. His light-brown hair was dishelved, but that was only because he had just been on a patrol. His pilot uniform, thought outdated, fit him well. He walked with a fine, confident gait, even if it was somewhat nervous. And he had bright, gray eyes that brimmed with life. Yes, he was cute. Yes, she might consider him dating material, if circumstances were different. But circumstances were different. She turned back to her work abruptly as he noticed her looking at him. He didn't say a word about it. He just came to stand beside her quietly.  
  
A quiet moment which was shattered by a gasp from him, which almost made Vanessa jump, so dismayed did it sound. She turned to him, asking what the problem is on the tip of her tongue...  
  
...and she stopped when she saw his face. He was staring at the enemy tactical arrangement with a very pale face. His eyes were wide, and his mouth worked words she could not understand. The enemy had shifted position, that she could see. But she was too inexperienced to understand what it could mean. Obviously, Lenardais knew it quite well.   
  
"What's going on?" she asked worriedly, not daring to say it out loud. He didn't seem to hear her, just stared at the screen. She stood up next to him, meaning to ask again what was wrong. At that very moment, Lenardais turned to Captain Gloval in frantic haste.  
  
"Captain." he said it levelly, yet there was an urgency that could not be denied in his voice. He received immediate attention. "Captain, they're about to bombard us."  
  
"What?!?" exclaimed Gloval, a cry which was echoed more forcefully by other bridge crewmen.  
  
"I'm positive they've shifted to a bombardment position. It resembles what we..." Lenardais said hurriedly, but he never had a chance to finish..  
  
Multiple laser beams struck the ships surrounding the SDF-1. ARMD one and ten never had a chance. Most of the escorting destroyers were also pulverized or heavily damaged. They never knew what had happened or, if they did, they didn't have time to do anything about it.  
  
Strangely, the SDF-1 itself did not seem damaged by the attacks, but it received a few significant shockwaves. One of them almost knocked Claudia down, but she stopped her fall with a grip on her console. Vanessa was also knocked down, but in her situation there was nothing to cling to, and she was seeing the floor come closer.  
  
But an arm suddenly put itself between the floor and her, and brought her back up. Vanessa looked in surprise at Lieutenant Lenardais, who seemed oblivious to the fact he was still holding her...and close, at that. He was using his other hand to get a firm grip, and he looked at the readouts on the screens in intense, but cold, fury. Something told her he did not think much of high bombardments. Not much at all.  
  
The shockwaves passed. Everyone righted himself. Captain Gloval was giving hurried but controlled orders to descend back down to Earth to five thousand feet above sea level. Lisa and Claudia immediately complied. Sammie was speaking with damage control teams and Kim was examining ship status in detail, relating her information to the Captain.  
  
As for Vanessa, she swiftly slid out of Lenardais's grasp - he hardly seemed to notice - and resumed her seat in bewilderment. She had liked it. She had actually liked being held close to this near-total stranger! What did it mean?  
  
No time for fooling around, she admonished herself. There was a lot to be done still.   
  
"Once at five thousand feet, you will activate the Hyperspace Fold at my command." the Captain was telling Claudia.  
  
That got everybody's attention, although Lenardais looked more confused than worried. A Hyperspace Fold could, in theory, teleport a ship very long distance by calculating a wavelength trajectory based on the nearest star and by entering exact coordinates. Again, in theory. The Fold system, after all...  
  
"Has never been tested, Captain!" said Claudia. Gloval nodded at this, but his demeanor did not change any. He was decided.  
  
"I know this, Claudia, but as it seems clear that the SDF-1 is the enemy's target, we should take the ship away from Earth at all cost. We will de-Fold on the other side of the Moon and try to fool the enemy into thinking we have left altogether. I have slim hopes that this will work but it is better than the present situation. Prepare the operation."  
  
"But, sir," protested Claudia "we must have an authorization from headquarters to activate the Fold and..."  
  
"I know the procedures. We don't have the time to wait for answers. Activate the Fold system."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Claudia!" shouted Gloval, his patience finally spent. "I have given you my orders!"  
  
Claudia flinched at this rebuke. She turned back to her controls.  
  
"Aye, Captain. Preparing Fold system."  
  
Kim turned to Vanessa. "Looks like it's going to be a big trip after all. Vanessa could only nod. The bridge than prepared for the most dangerous operation the SDF-1 had attempted to date.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
"We are about to attempt a Fold Maneuver. All ship personnel report to emergency stations. I repeat, we are about to attempt a Fold Maneuver. All ship personnel report to emergency stations." Lisa Hayes's voice resonated from the inter-ship comlink.  
  
Roy had just been showing to Rick Hunter the circus jet the boy had come to Macross Island with when he heard the general call. He instantly jumped inside the jeep he had used to transport his charges to the jet.  
  
"You two stay here." he said. " If you wander around, you'll get lost. You have no idea how enormous this ship is!"   
  
Rick's face had been indecisive and Minmey's face somewhat blank at this. He really did not wish to leave those two out there, but he couldn't ignore the general call. He was a soldier, after all. He started the engine and drove off. He had the intention of going to the pilot garrison of the SDF-1. His thoughts were interrupted with a personal call. He responded immediately, knowing it could be important.  
  
"Commander Fokker here." he said. He was surprised when he heard Claudia on the jeep's COM.  
  
"Roy, could you come to the bridge?" she asked.  
  
"What? Claudia, you know I have to go the other pilots. It's my place. I can't go to the bridge right now."  
  
Claudia seemed to hesitate on the COM, which troubled Roy to no end - Claudia was not of a hesitant nature.  
  
"Its special. It was...requested." she said hesitantly.  
  
"Requested? But who besides captain Gloval has the authority..." Roy started to ask.  
  
"Ohh, just come, all right Roy?" she said, a little exasperated.  
  
Roy was still very confused, but accepted to come immediately. He drove toward the nearest elevator that led to the bridge, all the while wondering what was going on. This type of call was completely unorthodox! He couldn't make a coherent theory about it.  
  
He finally arrived to the elevator he wanted. As he disembarked and punched the call button for the elevator, he started to feel strange. Like stretched and a little nauseous. He leaned on the door of the elevator in shock and weakness, wondering what was wrong with him. Then he realized it: the Fold must have been activated! They were in the middle of it. Knowing this, Roy relaxed and waited for it to pass. It did not last long. A few seconds at most. As soon as the sickness passed, he went inside the elevator and went to the bridge. He was starting to wonder of the status there, anyway.  
  
When he arrived, the activity on the bridge was subdued, efficient. Just as if a Fold had not happened. Sammie was a little green still however, which meant she probably had been unable to fully stomach it. Roy was about to ask what was the status of the ship when a man beside Vanessa turned in his direction. Both men froze. Roy's mind froze in stupefaction and fear.  
  
It..  
  
It...  
  
It couldn't be...  
  
Could it?  
  
"Hi Roy" said Alex Lenardais, an old friend, a very good friend. A very dead friend!  
  
I need a vacation real bad, he thought savagely. This just can't be!  
  
Could it?  
  
Could it?  
  
Yes.  
  
It would seem so.  
  
In fact, he realized soon...  
  
It was so.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  



	3. Chapter 2: Fitting back in...old pains a...

Chapter 2  
  
February 20, 2009, Near the Planet Pluto  
  
"All right, left hand then. Good. Fire a shot from the gun. Okay, not bad. You're really improving, old buddy. Shift back to Plane Mode and we'll bring them in."  
  
Lenardais sighed in relief. Finally it was over! The last days had been rather harsh, as Roy worked to bring him up to speed on the piloting of a Veritech. The Plane Mode was no problem - the controls weren't much different than those of his old plane. The Guardian mode worked almost under the same pattern, so he had learned to adjust in barely a day.  
  
The Battloid Mode - Or robot mode - however, was another thing whatsoever. Knowing what switch or button activated this punch, this kick or this grab. What were the ways to walk, run and shoot. Robot maneuvers upon maneuvers. It was just simply confusing at first. The first day, he had tripped on his own feet and landed hard on the deck. It had been a very funny moment for Roy, to be sure, but Alex had been disappointed in himself for this amateurish act.  
  
But he had catched on quickly. After all, he had helped develop the first pre-Veritech Battloid, as had Roy. As of the present, he handled himself like a true ace in Plane Mode, a very good pilot in Guardian Mode, and a modestly efficient pilot in Battloid Mode. That last bit irked him, and he told this to Roy.  
  
"Don't worry." said his friend. "You're still as good a fighter pilot as I remember you. It's only a matter of time before you get better. Give it a week and you'll be the equal of every pilot in Battloid mode. Give it a month and you'll be an ace in the three modes, just like me. Trust me!"  
  
"Yeah, right." said a half-amused, half disgusted Lenardais. "I remember the last time you told me that!"   
  
"Herr....when was that, to be precise?"  
  
"June 18, 2005, my dear Roy. Special mission on a terrorist group in southern Nevada."  
  
"Oh, come on!" said Roy in hurt indignation. "How was I supposed to know they'd bring reinforcements that quickly?!"  
  
"You couldn't. You're not omniscient. Which is why I take caution when you say 'Trust me'.  
  
"Don't change the subject. It's not the same at all! You..." The two men went on, bickering long and large, relieving the tension and intensely enjoying this precious moment of true friendship.  
  
When Roy had come on the bridge and seen him, he seemed like a man who was seen a ghost - in fact, in Roy's point of view, he was. He had stared at Alex in complete shock for a long minute, making Alex and Vanessa fidget and even causing Captain Gloval to inquire whether Roy was all right. Fokker had not responded but had kept staring at Lenardais intensely. Then he had let out a shout that made everyone jump and before Alex quite knew what had happened, he had found himself caught in a bone-breaking embrace, his breath knocked out of him. After a few seconds of this, Roy had let him go, saying he knew Alex couldn't have died: he was far too stubborn for that. The two had then excused themselves from the bridge - in fact Roy had excused them both - and had spent the next three hours in Roy's quarters, with Roy filling him in on what had happened after his "death".  
  
The factory had blown up skyward, as Alex had hoped, taking only a few unoccupied buildings with it and sparing the habitations that were near. Roy and the reinforcements had then spent hours in a frantic search for his aircraft, before reluctantly admitting that he was dead. A great ceremony was held in Alex's honor in the city, the Mayor of Macross saying that "this act will not be forgotten, for this brave man gave his life to save thousands. Only great men can do so selflessly." The military commander had also put in a kind word. It was a very sad moment, it would appear, but it was also a very proud one. The word of Alex's deed spread to the High Command, who gave him a posthumous promotion and the Medal of Valor. And cadets took the name Alex Lenardais as their inspiring factor both on and off the battlefield.  
  
"Its not that surprising." Roy had said when Alex had expressed dismay at being a sudden role model. "Young people need heroes when there is war. They need an ideal of purpose and strength. An icon. And you, old buddy, did a very heroic act back then."  
  
"But I'm not at all as great as this story makes me out to be!" Alex had said.  
  
"But they don't know that. They only know what you did." Roy had retorted with a small smile.  
  
It was true. There was no help to it. And that was what Alex dreaded.  
  
The bickering ended when Roy called Delta to receive permission to dock. Alex looked at the enormous ship, like a fallen leviathan on a great chunk of ice. A chunk of ice that wasn't part of the moon, as it would have been had the Fold worked properly. But it hadn't. The Fold had instead sent the SDF-1 and all of Macross Island - another unwelcome side-effect- near the planet of Pluto. Many people had died because of the Fold and the coldness of space, except those onboard the ships Deadalus, Prometheus and except those inside the bunkers of Macross Island. All in all, over seventy thousand survivors remained. For the past three days, they had been transferred to the SDF-1, and the Deadalus and the Prometheus had been attached to the great ship. The crew of the SDF-1 was now hard on the task of salvaging any and all usable items of the shattered city, planning to use the material to rebuild at least part of it inside the hull of the ship. It was a rather desperate measure, but all agreed that it had to be taken. The last three days had been less than relaxing -thus the reason Roy and Alex enjoyed their "filling" sessions so much.  
  
They received an affirmative from the control. Idly listening, Alex realized that it wasn't Lisa Hayes's voice.   
  
Probably not her shift, thought Alex, then he went a little rigid as something else sunk in. Oh, God, was it today? Yes, sadly it was.  
  
They settled their Veritechs in their assigned hangar. As techs rushed to secure the crafts, both men climbed down and removed their helmet. It was then that Roy saw something was the matter.  
  
"Hey, Al. What's the matter?" he inquired. "You look stressed all of the sudden." He stepped back as Alex rounded on him, somewhat worried and frantic.  
  
"Roy. Can you tell me who on the bridge does formal debriefings?" It was asked with such intense attention that Fokker blinked, dumbfounded for a moment.   
  
"What?" he finally blurted.  
  
"I said: can you tell me..." Alex stated again. Roy cut him off almost angrily, coming back to his senses.   
  
"I heard you the first time! Why do you think someone from all the way up to the bridge would debrief you?"  
  
"Because Gloval said my case was special: me being supposed to be dead and all. He said he'd send someone from the bridge to take care of the matter."  
  
Roy stroke his chin pensively, looking at the working techs. He turned back to his friend. "I see. Well, Lisa conducts those most of the time, I think. But we can cross her out on this one. As the second in command, she really has her hands full. Claudia would be in the same position. That leaves..." Roy trailed off then, a smile suddenly appearing, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Alex hated that look with a passion - it always meant trouble.  
  
"You're going to have one of the Bridge Bunnies." he sated, then chuckled. Evidently he thought what was happening was quite funny. Alex definitely didn't. But curiosity urged him on despite this show of dangerous mirth.  
  
"Bridge Bunnies?" he queried hesitantly, not really wishing to know but being curious nonetheless.  
  
"Lieutenants Kim Young, Vanessa Leeds and Sammie Porter, to be precise. They hang out together all the time and are always trying to get themselves dates. It was so flagrant that people started calling them the Bridge Bunnies. What can I say, the name stuck. I think you've met them, haven't you?" Roy laughed again at his friend's distress. Alex was looking absolutely mortified, and feeling worse. To be actually stuck with a woman in debriefing was not something he liked.  
  
"I met them." Alex half groaned, starting to walk to one of the entrances of the hangar. He meant this as a non-subtle end to the conversation but Roy, as usual, only let go when he wanted to.  
  
"Oh really? Which?" He had an idea, of course: he had seen the bridge. But it wouldn't have been Roy Fokker without a minimum of teasing queries.  
  
Alex sighed. "Let me think. Lieutenant Leeds and Young. Yes, that's it. Thought I mostly was with Leeds. Young, however..." he stopped, appalled that he had let something like this in front of his boisterous friend. Roy, of course, jumped on the hint he saw.  
  
"Something happened with Vanessa and Kim? Tell me! Come on, buddy, you can't hide yourself now." They both stopped at the entrance.  
  
Alex sighed again - he did much of that when he was caught in such a turn of events. Roy would not let up, so he talked about how intensely he had stared at Vanessa, and what Kim had said. He did not, however, tell him about the short time he had accidentally held Vanessa, and about how strangely attractive he had found the situation despite his fear.  
  
By the time he had ended, Roy was of course laughing his lungs out. Alex could only wonder at how serious the man could be when on a mission, and how irritating in private.  
  
"Al...hehe...you...heh...you are so dead! And I mean for real this time!" said Roy when he could speak again. "Kim won't let you live this one down. I hope it won't be her who'll do your debriefing. If it's her, well, you certainly won't last long."  
  
"Thanks for brightening my day, Roy."  
  
"Any day, anytime." said Roy before chuckling again.  
  
Alex grunted in disgust and prepared to leave. He'd go take a shower, change in his uniform - a lieutenant uniform, although he was to officially become a lieutenant-commander as soon as the debriefing proved to be satisfactory. Then he'd lounge about somewhere, waiting for...  
  
"Sir! Lieutenant! Sir!"  
  
...this. Speak of the Devil and he will come. thought the young pilot as he turned to a coming, younger man with red hair. He was a corporal, by the insignia, a pilot. He was also somewhat winded, having run the entire length of the hangar to catch up with the officers he was seeking. He was holding a paper that looked official in his right hand. Both men waited patiently for the youth to come to them. As he neared, he put himself at attention and saluted. The two friends saluted in turn.  
  
"At ease, corporal." said Roy formally, reverting to his military style. The man instantly relaxed.  
  
"Thank you sir. Message from the command staff for you, lieutenant Lenardais." he handed Alex the paper. Rapidly Lenardais read them, then almost let off a small sigh again, catching himself just in time. He handed the orders back.  
  
"Very good," he said to the younger pilot. "Tell lieutenant Leeds I shall be there in exactly forty-five minutes." From the corner of his eye, he saw Roy twitch at that. He ignored him.  
  
The youth did not seem to be wanting to move away. In fact, he was looking at Lenardais with an air of intense interest and seemed to hesitate about something. This made Alex a bit edgy - he thought he knew what would happen - but he did not show it any in his outward demeanor. Instead, he decided to act the part of the polite officer.  
  
"Yes, corporal. You have something else to say?" he queried calmly. The youth went completely erect, but did not leave, instead, he seemed to bring himself to a decision.  
  
"Yes, well...sir..if you don't mind me asking..." said the youth uncertainly. Alex - and probably Roy as well - now were certain of what would be said.  
  
"Go on, corporal." Alex urged gently, but tiredly.  
  
"Well, are you by any chance Alex Lenardais of 2006?"  
  
Alex seemed the image of serenity on the outside, but inwardly he groaned in utter disgust. It was the fifth time some youth had come to ask him that directly. Since when did I become such a freaking role model? he thought in exasperation. However, as much as he wanted it to be, lying was not something he did with fellow pilots.  
  
"Yes, I am." he said dryly. "What of it?"  
  
The corporal beamed at this. Alex thought he heard a chuckle from Roy's direction. He shot him a dirty look -which Fokker merrily ignored. He really didn't want this adulation. But then the lad surprised him.  
  
"Sir, you really are a great man." the pilot said, then saluted in deep respect. Alex returned the salute. The younger man then went his way, leaving two surprised officers. Both maintained a certain silence for a while, before Roy finally broke it.   
  
"Well, this was original, at least."  
  
"Hum...yeah, I suppose." admitted Alex, tired of the attention he was having. "Who is it, anyway?"  
  
Roy took only a few moments to come up with an answer. "Corporal Mathew Gendorsky, if memory serves. A good pilot, but with a reckless streak." his face became somber. "Just like Rick.  
  
Rick Hunter and Lyn Minmey, the two people Roy had been escorting, had vanished during the Fold incident. Roy was certain they had not died, since Rick's flyer had been missed as well. Having every intention of finding them, he was prevented from his search by a direct order from Captain Gloval. The two men had argued about it, but Gloval had stood as firmly as a mountain: Roy Fokker's ability as a pilot and as a leader was too valuable in the crisis of relocating the seventy thousand survivors of Macross City. As such, he could not permit such a search. Roy had finally, grudgingly, backed off and gone back to his duties. But for all his cheerful exterior, he worried about his young friend.  
  
Alex saw the way Roy looked and easily guessed the intent.   
  
"Don't worry, Roy. We'll find them when things settle down." he stated reassuringly.  
  
Roy sighed and nodded. His face lost its troubled edge, and a small smile came again to his mouth.  
  
"You should be getting ready, you know." said Roy. "Vanessa won't wait forever, and I wouldn't want to ruin your date."  
  
"Right." said Alex firmly, stepping past Roy and heading for the lockers as his brain slowly replayed what had just been said. "Wait a minute..." he snarled, turning toward his old friend, who was grinning, of course.  
  
"Just don't be too rough on her. Women are fragile things." the taller man laughed, cheerfully dodging the helmet shoved his way and running towards the lockers himself.  
  
Picking up the fallen helmet, Alex gave chase.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
I saw him today.  
  
I still can't believe it. He has survived! Has Fate completely abandoned me? The damn, shitty, motherfucking pilot! Back, and everyone's newest hero. That is, except me. Damn him! Was it not enough that he destroyed my honor with my brethren? Was it not enough that he ruined my hour of glory? He should not have survived. Not then and not now!  
  
Alex Lenardais, I will always remember what you took from me, the suffering I faced because of you, the unbearable feeling of failure and loathing that have been mine. You, great pilot of the RDF, thinking you are the best of the best, you are nothing compared to what I am. LUCK made you a hero, but I could at least think that, while my honor was shattered, that you were a dead hero, a memory I would eventually live down.  
  
But no. Here you are, parading your experience for all the ship to see, feigning to dislike the attention you are getting from the young pilots. I know that, deep down, you enjoy it. Your damned innocent facade hides your disdain for those lesser than you, or those you think are lesser men and women than you are. Arrogant, selfish bastard! You dare lie about your feelings toward glory. Hah! I am not surprised. Lying is for cowards, after the facts. Don't you DARE demean me! And then there's Fokker, the damn goody-two-shoes, stupid excuse for a veteran pilot that we have as a military commander. I planned to avenge myself on him, but found it tasteless, since he, at least, had shown honor: HE dis not shoot people from behind. Asshole! You will pay for your cowardly ways!  
  
I will see that you pay.  
  
Personally.  
  
Enjoy your glory, Alex Lenardais, you will find it short-lived indeed.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
Twenty minutes before the scheduled briefing with lieutenant Lenardais, Vanessa Leeds was already seated at the table of the briefing room, reading the file about her charge. The slender young woman certainly had other things to do, but an order was an order and, although Gloval had not ordered her to conduct the debriefing, it had almost been one.  
  
Yet, even without that particular incentive, she probably would have taken the assignment anyway. There was something about the nervous yet able pilot that she found she liked. Of course, she hadn't talked about it to her friends, knowing it would be an act of utter craziness. Kim and Sammie were good friends and very nice people, but they also had a thing for gossiping and teasing. She knew that if she told them she liked Lenardais even slightly, she'd never hear the end of it. So she kept cool and professional. But still, she wondered about him.  
  
Shrugging, she started reading the file. She was soon completely immersed in it.  
  
Name: Alex Lenardais  
Birthplace: Hull, Ontario Quadrant  
Birthdate: 17-03-1983  
Height: 5'8"  
Weight: 145 lbs  
Blood Type: O+  
Enlisted: 06-04-2001  
Graduation: San Francisco UE Academy  
Promotion: Promoted to Sergeant, 25-04-2003, Promoted to Master Sergeant 05-02-2004,  
Promoted to Second Lieutenant 12-03-2005, Promoted to First Lieutenant 30-01-2006, Posthumously promoted Lieutenant-Commander 02-09-2006  
Decoration: Titanium Cross, 12-03-2005, Badge of Excellence 17-07-2005, Medal of Courage 14-10-2005, Badge of Honor, 30-01-2006, Posthumous Medal of Valor 02-09-2006  
Primary Ability: Piloting  
Class: Elite Class A  
Secondary Ability: Tactical Analysis  
Class: Class A  
Engagements: 43  
Number of Reported kills: 201  
Known Hobbies: Cooking, Reading, Karate, Flute  
Status: DECEASED  
Last Wingman: Roy Fokker, First Lieutenant, RDF  
Last Affectation: Macross Base, Macross Island  
  
There was much more there, bits and scraps of information that had been annexed, as well as the different comments and mission reports. Vanessa was amazed at the descriptions given in some of those reports. If all of this was accurate, Alex and Roy had fought their way out of more than one tight spot. No wonder they were so close. The missions they had flown demanded it, so dangerous were they.  
  
"Incredible." she whispered.  
  
"Well, not really." replied a voice.  
  
Vanessa almost jumped at the voice: she had been so absorbed in her musings that she had not noticed the passage of time. She recovered from her shock enough to turn her head towards her charge. Lieutenant Lenardais was standing stiffly and alertly a few feet away from her, his stance and face set into a shining example of military self-control. He looked to her like a man who was steeling himself for battle as opposed to a simple debriefing. She wondered about this stiffness, until she remembered a bit of information.  
  
...subject has an unexplainable chronic fear of the opposite sex. Customary analysis shows no acceptable evidence as to a reason behind this fear. Discussion with the subject has gleaned no more information, as he is unable to explain it himself. This chronic fear is not intense nor dangerous. Subject feels intense nervousness and reluctance to speak. In these cases, he reverts to complete military facades...  
  
So he was afraid of her? What a strange guy! Like she was anything to be afraid of. Vanessa looked at her charge and sighed inwardly. Why did the Captain give this to her? Probably hadn't read the files. Anyway, she was here now; she'd have to make the best of it.  
  
"Welcome Lieutenant." she said "Good of you to come." Sparkling intro, Vanessa, spoke a sarcastic part of her mind.  
  
"Thank you, ma'am." was the stoic answer. This time Vanessa sighed outwardly. So that's how he wanted it, huh? Well, too bad, but she didn't want that type of conversation and she wasn't about to start one like that just now.  
  
"Come on. Call me Vanessa, sir Lenardais. In case you haven't noticed, we have the same rank and you will soon outrank me. So enough with the "ma'am", ok?" Here it goes. I wonder how he'll react.  
  
To her relief, he somewhat relaxed at this slight rebuke and -almost- smiled. At least he didn't seem like an image of the perfect military man. His white uniform, with deep blue at the shoulders, fit him well, she could not help but notice. She then saw he was well on his way to standing up all the way thought the debriefing. She indicated a chair in front of her.  
  
"Sit down, please. You know as well as I that this may take a while."  
  
"Thank you." he sat down in the proffered chair gingerly but calmly. Vanessa noticed he had not called her 'ma'am' and inwardly she cheered herself for this small victory. Now she could concentrate on the matter at hand. She looked down at her documents to compose herself, and then charged ahead.  
  
"All right lieutenant, I'll revise the events that led to your 'death', all right. Then I'll ask you to fill in the obvious blank. Is that all right?" he nodded and she started her résumé. "As it goes on the day you were presume dead: 8h00 You and then-lieutenant Roy Fokker take off from the military airfield of Macross Island. 8h05-8h47 Lieutenant Fokker and you make a standard patrol over Macross Island and the surrounding terrain. 8h48 Lieutenant Fokker calls the Control Tower about sighted hostiles. 8h49 You both engage the enemy crafts. 8h50 Breakaway of one of the crafts. You give chase. 8h51 You manage to take out the craft but the Reflex Factory reaches critical. 8h52 Managing to contain the explosion, you disappear. 8h54 Reinforcements arrive. The other enemy crafts are shot down. 9h00 First search party sent, Roy Fokker commanding." she looked up from her résumé. "Does that seem allright to you?"  
  
"It does." he nodded solemnly.  
  
"They found nothing in that search, nor for any others for the three days that followed. Thus you were presumed dead until you reappeared three days ago. Allow me, then, to ask you this: what happened to you?" She was surprised by what he did then. He laughed. It wasn't a hearty laugh, but a soft one, one mingled with sadness and exasperation. She suddenly found his tense but gentle face quite melancholic.  
  
"If I knew, Vanessa, don't you think I would have explained it by now?" he sighed more than snapped, but there was tension beneath the voice. His demeanor was steadier towards her: obviously, in debriefings at least, his nervousness did not last long. He spread his hands "As far as I was concerned, I was dead. There were no ways for me to pull out or dodge the blast. So I was ready to die and when I saw the flash I thought 'goodbye world'. But then I was here, in the middle of the attack you suffered at the hands of these...giants or such. Aliens, anyway." he seemed displeased by his own lack of knowledge.  
  
Vanessa nodded pensively, looking at Lenardais. It was clear he was telling the truth. In fact, no one aboard ship really thought he could lie, especially those who served with and under him three years ago. She wrote a few notes, but she knew her report would be brief, if precise. There just were no clues to justify he lied.  
  
She tackled a new line of conversation, surprising herself and probably he as well. Normally, the debriefing should be continued, she telling him things he knew quite well: his promotion, that he had to form a squadron (as was required of first lieutenants and above) and technical data about veritech fighters. She thought that pretty futile: he had, after all, much experience already as a lieutenant, knew how to form a squadron and as for veritechs...well, according to the dossier, he was one of those who helped analyze flaws in the first pre-prototypes, as such he knew what the veritechs were pretty well. If not, with Roy Fokker, he probably knew by now.  
She thus chose a very casual line of conversation.  
  
"Your bio tells me you have a gift for cooking. Is it true?" she knew it was, but had to ask.  
  
He seemed surprised and at a loss there, but composed himself quickly and efficiently.  
  
"Well, yes. I do like cooking." he was perplexed at the turn of the conversation, yet she decided to pounce a little more.  
  
"What kind of food?"  
  
Now he was REALLY perplexed, thought he tried to hide it. Nervousness started to creep back into his features and his voice.  
  
"W-well...hum...I Italian food, Vietnamese food, some Chinese recipes." he faltered after that but spurted "Especially Italian." then fell completely silent.  
  
"Italian. Like pasta and that kind of things?" she asked brightly. He raised an eyebrow at this: a discussion about pastas obviously was not what he had in mind. He did nod hesitantly, however. "That's great! You know, I myself just love rigatoni!"  
  
"Really..." he was very embarrassed now, but she saw a small smile creeping into his mouth. She took it as a good sign, and so decided to go into more military-like territory.  
  
"You've been a pilot for..." she checked "five official years now, eight chronologically. Tell me: what do you like about flying?" he brightened perceptibly at this: obviously this was a subject he liked. His nervousness dissipated, and his small smile bloomed. She saw the great changes as a pleasant surprise. If he didn't have this ridiculous fear of women, she thought, he'd find a girlfriend in a heartbeat.  
  
"I like everything about flying. Well, except fighting. The feel of freedom and spirit you feel when you soar out yourself, alone with only your plane and your wits. You can't know just how... alive... it makes me feel in those times.  
  
She chuckled at his almost starry-eyed expression. He was so cute! This time she did not squash the thought, for it was too true. She looked at his mission reports.  
  
"You seem to like giving details too. In your mission briefing, you give much more than is needed about what the plane felt like, what the place looked like from above. You can be quite a narrator, you know."  
  
"Thank you." he was still smiling, probably still reliving the feel of flying.  
  
"All except one in fact, " she pounced, " in the mission you did in Abrar in Algeria..."  
  
That was a mistake. A grave one. She knew it as soon as she said it. Lenardais's face vaulted, his eyes became cold and dispassionate. His hands, which lay limply on the table, clenched hard. All expression of gaiety was gone, to be replaced by a cold demeanor that made Captain Gloval's cold attitude in battle seem warm by comparison. It wasn't a sight she liked. In fact, it made her very nervous.  
  
"you didn't say....much..." she said softly, her last word almost unheard. He, however, heard her well enough.  
  
"No, I suppose I didn't." his voice was cold and rough, no-nonsensical and cutting. A stark contrast to the warm and gentle (if slightly nervous) voice he usually used in conversing. She cringed upon hearing it.  
  
"Why..." she started hesitantly. She was cut off by Lenardais's fist impacting on the table. His eyes were no longer cold: they were burning with fury.  
  
"Why! Why! That's all what you Line Officers can ask us, isn't it!! You sit in your safe little bridges and offices and you think you can judge us? Well get this: this is NONE of your business. My mission, my actions, my conscience!!!" the last was almost shouted.  
  
For the first time, Vanessa Leeds felt fear towards lieutenant Lenardais. She felt just about ready to flee the room, flee those pained, furious eyes, when the pilot stood up stiffly.  
  
"I think that is enough. You have your answers, lieutenant Leeds. Goodbye." he saluted and then, without waiting for her to react, he went out of the room, the door hissing close behind him.  
  
For long moments, all she could do was sit still, shocked and scared. Then, feeling came back to her in full force, and she started to shake violently.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
People did not try to hinder Lenardais's way as he stormed back to the hanger where his Veritech was stationed. In fact, as soon as they saw his face, they did their upmost to get out of his way. He was still seeing red, and as such his pace was very quick but somewhat mechanical. He was on automatic. It took him two full minutes to calm down enough to think coherently. By then, he was halfway to his destination, so fast had he moved. When he did start to think, it wasn't long for him to realize how stupidly he had acted.  
  
Damn it! Won't they stop making me relive that old nightmare? They should know how it makes me feel! Still, I shouldn't have gotten so angry. I can control myself for anything but that so why can't I learn? I looked like a real fool surely, back there. Why, to her, it must have looked... that's when it hit him like a ton of bricks.   
  
My god, he thought in half-panic, What did I say to her?   
  
As he replayed the discussion for himself, he realized what he had said and, more importantly, how he had said it.  
  
Again people hurried out of Lenardais's way. Only this time they did not do it because of the fear of having one's head teared off but because of the fear of being rammed by his fast-moving body. He made it back to the briefing room in record time. He only slowed as he was nearing the door. Then, he stopped completely. He found to his dismay that he could not bring himself to step through. He knew quite well he might not like what he would see and so he wasn't too eager to see it.  
  
But Alex Lenardais was, when all was said and done, a good man. Moreover, he felt guilty about what he had wrought. So squaring his shoulders slightly and steeling himself, he firmly entered the room.  
  
And all the apologies he had prepared flew out the window as he the full extent of his slight's damage.  
  
Vanessa was bent over the table, her arms around her head. She was visibly shaking, and from time to time a muffled sob echoed back to the staring pilot. It was clear she was deeply shaken. It was clear that he had scared her.  
  
It was clear he had hurt her.  
  
Lenardais was not shocked by this. No, it was much more. His guilt suddenly doubled and redoubled until it was unbearable. He longed still to go comfort her, to apologize for his actions. But his fear, and now his guilt riveted him to his place. Contrite, he realized that, has experienced a fighter he was, this wasn't a battle he could win yet. He stepped out of the room quickly. She never noticed he was there at all, as any people in shock.  
  
He went to his quarters, his mind in turmoil, searching for a feasible way out of the situation. He paced and paced around his quarters like he was a caged beast. He could not comfort her. That really bothered him. All the fights, all the missions, and all the damn freaking experience he had, all he could do and he wasn't able to comfort at girl. A lump of grief and helpless anger started to form in his throat until, out of nowhere, another bit of the conversation he had had with Vanessa came back to him.  
  
"That's great! You know, I myself just love rigatoni!"  
  
"That's it!" he thought "this is something I can at least do to apologize!"And, his heart lightened a little, he when out of his quarters in search of what he needed.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
The next morning was rather bleak for Vanessa Leeds. She had cried for long minutes before mastering her emotions, but she had remained hurt and angry with lieutenant - no, lieutenant-commander - Lenardais's furious outburst. How dare he treat her like that, the damn brutish asshole! She had been so scared because of him!  
  
Scared, yes. But also saddened.  
  
Because of the hurt she felt, she went to see Roy Fokker and found him eating a light lunch in the Officers' Mess. He had been perplexed and surprised -not to mention slightly uncomfortable- to see her sit in front of him with a serious and hurt expression. However, as he recounted the incident, his own face had become grave and sad, as if they saw something else, something behind the violent incident. He had stayed silent a long time, then had smiled sadly and told her:  
  
"Don't take it badly, Vanessa. The anger wasn't directed at you. You unwittingly dug up something really painful to him, something he never lived down. I never could help him there. No one ever could."  
  
"What happened in Algeria?" she had asked, very curious. The answer, of course, did not come as a surprise.  
  
"Its not for me to tell you that. Maybe he'll tell you, I'm not sure. However, remember he mustn't be feeling too well about what he did to you. But he might not show it."  
  
As such, still hurt but no longer angry, she omitted the incident from her report. Gloval, satisfied, had given his approval and promoted Lenardais, as the SDF-1 needed all the veteran commanders it could get.. He was to find his squadron members by this morning. Vanessa, however, still felt the hurt from the incident, a blast of fury she knew she had not deserved at all. She could understand it a little, but still...  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted as the door of the bridge hissed open. She looked, then just as quickly looked back at her console. She sat rigidly as Lenardais went to report to Gloval with the list of pilots he'd drawn up. The two men talked for a long while. Then something caught Vanessa's ears.  
  
"Before I go and with your permission, sir, I'd like to say something to Lieutenant Leeds. May I? It won't take long."  
  
"By all means." Gloval agreed. Lenardais obviously saluted, then made his way to Leeds's station, stopping to relay a message from Roy to Claudia. Then he was standing next to her chair.  
  
She did not turn to him. She wanted to sort things out before talking to him. Lenardais seemed to recognize that, for he crouched next to her and put a plastic container on her lap. Before she could register it, he said "I'm so very sorry." Softly, then he stood up and walked out of the room, ignoring the curious stares from both Sammie and Kim.  
  
Vanessa wanted to call out to him, but realized that it would be a frivolous gesture, not to mention a childish one. Instead she opened the container, then she started. Rigatonis?! She then did a double take as she recalled her conversation with Lenardais.  
  
She looked up but he was already gone. Still, she felt most of the hurt ebbing away from her and she smiled tentatively. Maybe he wasn't a brutish asshole after all.  
  
"Thanks." she whispered. Suddenly, the morning wasn't so bleak anymore.  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  



	4. Chapter 3: New faces and Risky Businesse...

Chapter 3  
  
March 9, 2009, Near the Planet Saturn  
  
Errare humanum est. It is in man's nature to err.  
  
That's more or less what Mathew Gendorsky thought about his situation. He had been pulled from his work on the refitting of a Valkyrie by a message from the newly-promoted Lieutenant-Commander Lenardais requesting that he be present at 900 hours in briefing room seven. He looked at the time. 8h43. Seventeen minutes to go yet.   
  
He grunted in discomfort. He hated not knowing about a situation, yet he was excited despite himself. Alex Lenardais was amongst the most experienced pilots on board the SDF-1, and a war hero to boot. He had heard of he and Roy Fokker's exploits when he was just starting at the Piloting Academy of Saransk in the new Western Russian Quadrant. Back then, he had thought the two greater than life. And even after he had passed the tests with flying colours, even after becoming a RDF Officer and a pilot, he still thought them larger, better. Seeing the two together had been like a sort of dream come true. And he had seen in the two men the strength of will and the confidence of skill, neither things he found he had. And then he had blurted it.  
  
Sir, you really are a great man.  
  
"Ugh! Boshe Moï! Why couldn't you just say 'nothing sir', turn around and walk away instead of blurting that out like an idiot? Now who knows what he thinks?!" he would have ranted some more, if the door hadn't opened right then. A man stepped in. It wasn't Lenardais. He was taller and much, much broader. He had rather short black hair, a grim face and walked with a slight limp. His gaze was icy. He wore, like Gendorsky, a pilot uniform, except that he held the rank of Sergeant instead of Corporal.  
  
"Well, it would seem I am not the only person to have been called to this meeting." he said, his soft and cultured tone a stark contrast to the primal brutality of his appearance. He looked around quickly, then made his way to the table where the young Corporal was seated. Gendorsky raised himself and showed his hand to the large man.  
  
"It seems so. Corporal Mathew Gendorsky, sir."  
  
The large man looked at the hand for an instant, then shook it firmly. His grip was impressively strong, but not brutal - another sharp contrast.  
  
"A pleasure, Corporal. Sergeant Dwight Conway." he stated. This time Mathew placed his accent.   
  
"You're Australian!" he blurted, then inwardly cursed himself for talking like a gawking twit.  
  
"Indeed."said Conway smilling. "As surely as you are Russian, I'm sure."  
  
Gendorsky smiled in turn. "That's right. Do you know why we're here?  
  
The Sergeant shook his head. "No. I assume we will know soon enought." he seated himself. As he did the door hissed to life again. This time two people stepped in. One was a man small and slight, so much that it made the woman next to him tall and sturdy, althought she did not seem to be that very much. The man had reddish skin and black hair, marking him of indian ancestry. His attitude, however, was the opposite of what one would expect of indians. He wore the same rank as Dwight.  
  
"Hey, big hello here! Sergeant James Galger at your service, here and forever! I don't know why I'm here but if there's gonna be a party, I want in!!!"  
  
There's only one type of pilot I know who're like that, thought the corporal. Americans!  
  
Conway and Gendorsky shook hands with the smaller man. It was then that the woman spoke. Her demeanor was tight and strict, making Conway's apparent calm a party-attitude by comparison. Her face was delicate and definitely asian. She did not shake hands with anyone but presented herself: Yoni Nagashiwa, Second Lieutenant and thus everyone's superior except for the man they were here to meet. Gendorsky wondered at her. In 2007 the United Earth Government imposed strict restrictions to woman entering Veritech service. Not because of anything sexist - there were women officers involved in the agreement - but because the Veritechs demanded a good constitution because of its speed and multi-tasking. That she had managed to enlist and make it to Second Lieutenant was something indeed, he realized.  
  
The door hissed open at 8h59 hours exactly. The man they were to meet entered. Lieutenant-Commander Alex Lenardais looked around the room calmly, his eyes scanning each face for a moment, like a pilot choosing his targets. He hesitated when he saw lieutenant Nagashiwa, his face taking, for a bare instant, an undefinable expression. He then stepped forward with a slight smile. The four pilots stood up straight and saluted - this was a lieutenant-commander and a warhero, and they were, as such, extremely polite. He returned the salute.  
  
"Well, I see everyone is here on time. Very good. We will begin at once." he said pleasantly. He gestured to the table. "Let's sit down."  
  
They did so, the commander sitting himself at one end of the table. Gendorsky then realized he was holding papers and a pad, which he all spread in front of him. The papers looked damn well official, and the young man wondered what it portented. Judging the looks he saw from the others, they wondered the same thing.  
  
They did not have to wait long. Lenardais only looked at the pad briefly before speaking again.  
  
"Very well. I do not wish to waste our time, so I will make this as brief as I know how. I surmise you all know the Black Squadron, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Jiro was utterly destroyed in the first battle against the alien forces?" Four nods -with varying degrees of hesitançy- were echoed back at him. "That's fine, for then you know that the SDF-1 is lacking one of its fifteen main squadrons. Captain Gloval, knowing this, has thus given me permission to create and command another such squadron."  
  
All knew what was coming now, and each pilot showed it in a different manner. Conway only blinked quickly for a moment, then was serene again. Nagashiwa squared her shoulders in unconcealed anticipation and pride, her eyes lit up. Galger showed it the most; a gleeful, almost wolfish smile spread on his creased and joyous indian face. He was fidgeting, obviously overjoyed at the prospect.  
  
As for Gendorsky, he was sure he was about to burst. The prospect of what this man was offering surpassed, overthought and completely outdid what he had expected from the meeting. So certain was he that he would either explode or faint that he gritted his teeth and gripped the table as hard as he could. He did not doubt he cut a rather strange figure, or a maniacal one, but he just couldn't help himself.  
  
Lenardais looked around the table and nodded as if he had expected the reactions and spoke quietly. "Its clear you know what I'm about to say. I'll say it anyway: I want you to form the new Indigo Squadron with me."  
  
The tension and expectation exploded...silently. The room did not diSolve into shouts and congratulations, but everyone around the table - except the commander, who remained extremely calm - flowed with obvious joy. Even Conway seemed to be exuding ecstasy, albeit more moderately than the others. He was then one who first spoke. Only three words, really.  
  
"Why us, sir?"  
  
Three words and a simple enought question. But it certainly garnered the attention of everyone. The great pilot smiled and seemed about to speak, when Galger's voice cut in.  
  
"Yeah, pally, give us the whole scoop on the choosin', all right?"  
  
Galger could easily have handled the outraged stares he received from his now-teammates, of that there was little doubt. But he found himself over his head with his now-commander. It wasn't a glare or an hard face. No. Gendorsky saw it as a subtle - oh so subtle?- shift in his idol's demeanor. It reminded him of something he heard about those first pilots of the Robotech Defense Force. Those they got, they got because they were damn good. But not only for that. They got them because thay had, deep inside, a something that can affect people. A natural commanding thing or such. He didn't remember who had told him this, or why. He only remembered that it was puzzling. He had never really undertood it fully.  
  
He did now.  
  
The shift in the demeanor seemed to make the room colder. The expression on the commander's face did not alter, but something in his eyes made Galger wilt...almost literally. An angry fit of his shook one of the so-called Bridge Bunnies, Gendorsky thought, and now a mere gaze is shutting up an RDF pilot. I DON'T want to be there is he ever really gets rageful.  
  
But nothing happened this time. Calmly, but with hidden steel, Alex Lenardais spoke.  
  
"Sergeant Galger, my intent on explaining my 'choosing' is certain. However, I will explain it as I see fit. Secondly, you may call me commander, Lenardais or even Alex. You will leave out 'pally', 'buddy', 'Al' or such words until we know each other better. Finally, in any formal meeting, I will treat you with courtesy and politness. I expect you to do the same. You may leave right now if you do not agree. Understood?"  
  
Whether it was common sense taking old of the indian or it was simply the veiled fierceness in the commander's voice, Galger subsided and assumed a more serious air.  
  
"Understood, sir."  
  
Lenardais nodded, and the commanding stance - that until now Gendorsky thought only Captain Gloval and Commander Fokker could do- and resumed his normal, almost happy demeanor.  
  
"Now then, as for choosing the four of you, the reasons are different. I will tell of them briefly so that you can go to your assigned Veritechs to ready them for our first patrol." Lenardais took and opened one of the files he had stacked. "Yoni Nagashiwa. Veritech Pilot class A. Birth: Asian Japanese Quadrant. Entered service in 2006 and joined RDF in 2007. Rank: 2nd Lieutenant. Known Engagements: four. Known number of kills: 29." He shut the file and looked at the asian woman and again his demeanor changed. It was subtle, as if the commander saw something or felt something he shouldn't and was controlling it. Gendorsky couldn't imagine what it was.   
  
Lieutenant Nagashiwa didn't notice the change or didn't care. She stayed crisp and military-like. "That's right, sir."  
  
"Lieutenant, it came to my attention that you felt your talents were being...misused. Is that correct?" The stare was challenging this time, even with the rigidness. Lenardais was probing her answer. The lieutenant saw that, of course. But she decided not to skitter around and to stand her ground. With an equally defiant stare -however much tinged with respect- she answered with great sincerity. "Sir I believed so and still do."  
  
"And so do I." came the answer. "Let us try to remediate this." She nodded respectfully and the commander took another file.  
  
It went on like this. First Master Sergeant Conway and then James Galger were put throught small introduction. From what Gendorsky heard, Galger was as good as he was insubordinate, and the indian would be at least a First Lieutenant if not for that little flaw. Conway had a biology degree and was an adept of budo, both of which surprised no one in the room, who saw his logical and relaxed style.  
  
Finally Lenardais took the last file and turned his attention to Gendorsky. It was all the young pilot could do not to say or do something stupid. He was so nervous he could have.   
  
"Mathew Gendorsky. Birth: Eastern Russian Quadrant. Entered service in 2008, transfered to RDF in 2009. Rank: Corporal. Veritech Pilot class A. No combat experience." There was a stress on the 'no'. The russian flushed in embarassement as the others turned to look at him with looks that said 'a green guy' plainly. He thoroughtly wished he was someplace else. But he was here and felt the insult bite.  
  
Lenardais seemed to have read his thoughts. "I am not judging you, corporal. Nor am I insulting you. We all started off with no experience. Me, the other commanders, Fokker. Even Gloval started from nothing. He learned and became what he is. As have we all. Now I deem that it is your turn to start." Then he smiled at the younger man sadly. "There is also the fact that you think I am a 'great man'. I intend to show at least you that I am a 'lucky man' and maybe a 'skilled man' but that I'm not that great. This being said, do you agree to join the squadron?"  
  
Silence reigned as Gendorsky pondered this. It didn't last long. For, to the russian pilot, there really was only one possible answer.  
  
"I'll do it, sir." he said  
  
"Very good then. It seems we are bound to work together, all five of us. We will make our first team foray at 10h00 tomorrow morning. Understood?" Five acknowledgments echoed throught the room. " Then dismissed, people. And welcome aboard." He saluted sharply and all returned it. Then the new squadron commander gathered his things and left the room. Lieutenant Nagashiwa and sergeant Conway followed almost on his heels, saying brief, somewhat cold good-byes. Then only sergeant Galger and a elated but anxious corporal remained.  
  
The Indian turned to him. His eyes had regained mischief but also gained some strange sadness, much like Lenardais' had showed. The young pilot pondered this and came to the conclusion that they were worried about him. It was a comforting thought but an irritating one also.  
  
"You sure you're ready for this, kid?" Galger asked.  
  
"I think so." was the piqued answer. Gendorsky never liked it when someone seemed to question his ability.  
  
Galger seemed to realize that and grunted. "I hope so." Then he stood up and with a wave, he left the room. And Mathew Gendorsky was alone once more.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Well Rick, what do you think? From today on you're a real-life fighter pilot. You even get your own room! Congratulations."  
  
Roy Fokker said this in the hopes that Rick Hunter might say something good or at least intelligible about it. He was sorely disappointed, as Rick once again muttered something incoherent and absolutely noncommital back to him.  
  
He's been like this ever since he came back from that shopping trip with Minmey. He thought, wondering what had happened between the two. Still, he noted that it seemed to be especialy related to what happened around the shopping trip. He guessed he'd never know for certain. Still, this wasn't a situation or a mood he liked. Roy spared a glance to look at the compound they were in. The Veritech Headquarters were made of three buildings. The largest, the training building, was where the cadets of the Academy resided and trained. The next was the habitation building, where the Veritech Pilots and some ship officers had their quarters. The third and most impressive was without a doubt however, the central compound. There, in these chambers, missions were given, data was analysed and pilot debriefing conducted. It was also there that important meetings between the main commanders of the Veritech Forces were held. Surrounded by fences and guarded by battloids, the whole Headquarters was situated at the edge of the newly reconstructed Macross City. The strictness of the Headquarters, or perhaps Rick's mood, made Roy take a more disciplinary approach.  
  
"But remember that even thought you have you're own room it doesn't mean you can fool around." He then spotted Commander Hayes and the Bridge Bunnies walking towards them. Rick, his eyes studying the ground, wasn't seeing them. He fought with himself to keep a straight face; laughing or even chortling simply wouldn't do. Nevertheless, his voice betrayed him a little when he said "and one other thing..."  
  
The tone of his voice - anticipation mingled with mirth - took hold of Rick's attention. He looked back at the tall man warily, still caught-up in his strange mood. "What?"  
  
The answer Roy gave was simple and appropriate to the situation. "ATTEN-TION!" And he did just that, saluting.  
  
Only then did the younger man realize there were people ahead. He looked at them - completely forgetting to salute, which made Roy wonder if putting the boy throught an unorthodox, fast training was such a good idea - blankly for a moment. Then as he recognized them, he went straight into a fit of panic. So jittery did he seem that Fokker wouldn't have been really surprised if he had started running away screaming. As it was, he did not run, but remained trembling.  
  
Commander Lisa Hayes hadn't picked up Rick's face from her memory obviously, for after saluting the Veritech commander, she walked to the two men serenely and wished them good afternoon. This sent Rick deeper into his feet. Roy was now having as much fun as he had expected. Holding his laughter, he decided to tease nonetheless.  
  
"You little devil, I didn't know you knew commander Hayes?" he teased. Rick looked back at him, worried and miserable.  
  
"Yeah, kind-of, you know what I mean?"  
  
Roy didn't know what his young protégé was meaning, and would have said so, if amongst the Bunnies, Sammie, hadn't exclaimed. "Its Mister Langerais!!" and hadn't started a round of laughter on the subject.  
  
Mister Langerais?!? thought Roy, confused.  
  
Commander Hayes hadn't listened to the comments, or didn't care for them, for it was with the same casual calm that she talked with the blond commander.  
  
"My dear commander Fokker, is this the brilliant new pilot you were raving about?" she asked. "Introduce him." To almost anyone else it would have been an order. To Fokker it was a simple request. And not one he was about to deny. He nudged the pilot - who was trying by now to make himself invisible. He sprang like a wire.  
  
"I'm Rick Hunter!" was the squeak he gave by way of introduction. Again the brown-haired woman did not seem to notice his nervousness. She saluted back. And it was then that something clicked. Her brow furrowed in thought as something emerged from her memory.   
  
"Rick Hunter...why is that name so familiar?" she mused. This sent Rick into an even worse fit of anxiety. It was all Fokker could do not to laugh out loud, even more so when those two realized fully who the other was. To her credit, Hayes stayed calm, but anyone spotting the gleam of cold in her eye would have run for cover fast. As it was, she riveted the new pilot to the ground. Finding the situation opportune, the veritech veteran half-advised and half-teased his protégé, telling him to watch his mouth from now on. This seemed to somewhat satisfy the first officer.  
  
"I hope for his sake he follows your advice, commander." she started to walk past the duo when she stopped and turned back, her face about as mischievious as could be. "And it doesn't do you credit to hang around Langerais shops, you know." she teased. It stung. Rick now really looked like a wreck, and couldn't do anything as the commander and the three other bridge officers passed. He seemed spent as they walked away. Roy felt sorry for the boy, even thought he had brought this on himself with his loud-mouthed comments.  
  
"Well I'm still addled about this Langerais affair, but otherwise it went okay, wouldn't you say?" he asked.  
  
"No I wouldn't."  
  
Roy laughed. "That's because you've never seen it when its bad. I did. Trust me, you did okay."  
  
Rick seemed dubious, but slowly nodded. "Right."  
  
"Now that this is over, how about we..." He heard voices he recognized not far away from them, and he turned towards the direction commander Hayes and the Bunnies had gone. Sure enought, they were there, about ten meters from them, Hayes standing to the side with an amused mien and the three young women haggling a male officer severely. It took Fokker a bare instant to recognize the officer in question. As recognition dawned, so did a sense of dread laced with hilarity. Rick, evidently, took notice of the sudden silence from his, as he called him, 'big brother' and also turned his attention to the exchange. He frowned to the officer.  
  
"Who's that?" he asked mildly. "And why are those girls reprimanding him?"  
  
Roy did not look away from the exchange, but nodded. "First question: he's lieutenant-commander Lenardais. Second: because."  
  
"Alex Lenardais? The guy you sometimes talked about when you visited dad and me?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
The conversation, as it was, ended at that. Fokker shifted his full attention on the quarrel. It seemed, from the sheepish look of his friend's face and the insistence of the Bunnies, that they were arguing about his actions in the debriefing. Roy winced; true, Alex had behaved foolishly and completely out of his style, but there was a reason to that at least. A very real reason. A terrible one. But not a good one in this case. It wasn't surprising that Vanessa had spilled the beans to Kim and Sammie. After all, the three were inseparable. The poor guy wasn't doing too well, he realised, seemingly struggling to keep control of an uncontrollable situation. Fokker dwelled on the precept that maybe he should do something or at least intervene, but decided against it. Althought Alex originally feared women outright, it had given way to high nevousness that he was, usually, able to subdue.  
  
But then, the Bunnies weren't ordinary female officers...  
  
Fortunately, the blond pilot saw the conflict evaporate before coming to a decision. Alex's face shifted to something less strict and more relax, and he said something to Vanessa directly, ignoring the other two. Fokker didn't make out what was being said, but he wished it dearly, for it put a pall of stupor on the three girls. Vanessa nodded hesitantly, and Alex looked towards commander Hayes and saluted. He then broke from the group and, catching sight of the two pilots staring, made his way to them. Roy saw the four officers looking in their direction before turning away at last.  
  
As soon as he came within speaking distance, Roy asked his friend "What did you say?"  
  
Alex chose to ignore this and turned his attention on the young corporal. "And you are?"  
  
Rick, who had been staring at some point of nothingness, suddenly sprang to life. He stood stiffly and saluted. "Sir! Corporal Rick Hunter, sir!" The conversation with Hayes had shaken him, hmm?  
  
Instead of saluting back, the grey-eyed veteran thrust his hand into view. Rick stared at it numbly before realization sunk in. He then hesitantly took the proffered hand. And got caught in a very vigorous handshake.  
  
"So we finally meet face-to-face, heh, Rick Hunter?" said Alex jovialy.  
  
"Hum, yes sir." replied a dazed Rick.  
  
"Al?" said Roy dangerously. His friend pointedly ignored him.  
  
"I wanted to have you in my Squadron but, since my list was completed already, I had no choice but to ignore you. I hope you're not angry about it."  
  
"N..no, sir." stutered a confused Rick. Roy reached his limit.  
  
"AL!" he shouted in exasperation. Both men turned to him at this. Alex smiled and Fokker realized this was the reaction the smaller veteran had hoped for. He bit off uttering a curse, knowing it would only make his old wingman laugh. Instead he repeated his first question. This time Alex had no choice but to answer.  
  
The man in question took a deep breath. "Well...hum...you see Vanessa was mad still about what I said to her you know that stupid outburst and the token of reconciliation didn't work that well and she was still miffed and her friends backed her up so that..." he took another breath as the other two men watched, in near-awe, at the continuous bursts of words that came forth from the guy's mouth.   
  
"So that?" edged Roy.  
  
"That...Iinvitedheronadate."  
  
Both men blinked, looked at each other then back and blinked again. They hadn't made this one out. "Come again?" Alex flushed crimson.  
  
"Iinvitedheronadate."  
  
"What?"  
  
Deep crimson.  
  
"Iinvitedheronadate!!"  
  
"Buddy, we can't make out..."  
  
Beet red.  
  
"I INVITED HER ON A BLOODY DATE, OKAY?" Mt.Alex exploded, making Rick jump two feet backward and making Roy recoil. But as the words sank in, the tall pilot started to smile. After all, to him, this was something he never thought he would hear from his friend. Ever Alex scowled blackly, knowing him and the cause of the smile too well.  
  
"I should have known it'd make you happy." he muttered. This didn't stop Roy from smiling. If nothing else, the smile widened.   
  
"Well, now I understand why they were so surprised. After all, Vanessa must have told her friends how you are around women." he chuckled. "This is good! I never thought I'd see the day!"  
  
"Argh." grunted Alex noncommitally, looking at his friend and superior in almost-real loathing.  
  
Roy chuckled more at this, but unknown to him there was tension and sadness underneath it. Alex realized this quickly and dismissed a very grateful Rick Hunter from immediate duties. As the young ensign walked -well, almost jogged- away from them, veteran faced veteran for a moment, and the smaller of the two nodded. They started walking to the command compound before the question was asked.  
  
"So...how many did we lose in that last skirmish?" the question came out softly, as it was plain it wasn't a subject the pilots liked to talk about. The last "skirmish" had been hard-fought and hard-won, with the aliens showing much more aptitude battling in space than on the ground. It was the first battle Alex had participated in space, and the only one he did as simple wingman and not as squadron commander. His flying style had kept him unscratched, but many others didn't share the same skills or the same luck. The battle, in fact, had been a loosing one, until Captain Gloval ordered what was known as the Modular Transformation, transforming the ship to robot-like mode. That way, the Main Gun, that had been rendered useless by the loss of the Fold engines - another unwanted side-effect of the blind and desperate first Fold operation - had come back online and was fired on the attacking forces, destroying it almost totally. But this victory had been costly, crippling the half-constructed city and costing many pilot lives.  
  
The face of Roy Fokker became grave, all merriment was gone from him. "I received a report. We lost sixty-seven veritechs. eighteen pilots managed to eject." Dully said, with the voice showing how he felt: responsible for the deaths and yet helpless to stop him. Beside him, his friend sighed heavily. It wasn't the first time they encountered death, and they both knew it wouldn't be the last time.  
  
They hated it.  
  
"This brings us down by nearly a hundred veritechs and eighty experienced pilots. In short, they're bleeding us slowly." Roy finished his litany bleakly.  
  
"I know. But we have the manufacturing plants running at full speed, and we got the ressources to build thousands of veritechs still. Further, our RDF Academy on board the ship is busy training new recruits from enlistees from the survivors of Macross City."  
  
"Yeah, but except for a few guys like Rick, these aren't nearly as good as true fighter pilots."  
  
"'True fighter pilots?'"Alex teased, trying to sound humorous but failing." We were all enlistees at first, Roy."  
  
Roy nodded pensively as they went throught the front doors of the command compound.  
  
"Yeah but still...I mean I've been a pilot since 1998 and you since 2001. We're used to all this now."  
  
"Commander Fokker?" said the attendant officer, a young ensign by the looks of him. Roy stopped and raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement. "Sir, the bridge just called. They want to talk to you."  
  
The tall pilot nodded, traded a look with his old friend, and went to the nearest ship intercom. Punching his ID code into it, he called up the bridge, wondering what he'd hear, and if he would like it at all.  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
"A blitzkrieg?!?" gasped a stunned Claudia, a sentiment echoed by all bridge members at Gloval's plan. Kim Young was no exception. She'd just come on duty along with Vanessa, Sammie and Commander Hayes, when the Captain decided to do a blitzkrieg offensive. No one on the bridge had thought much of the idea.  
  
Captain Gloval turned to Claudia and Lisa slowly. He too seemed uncertain as to the viability of his plan. His voice was firm, however, as it always was.  
  
"When we leave Saturn they will still be on our flank, so I would like to find a way out of this trap." That said, he started to walk toward the exit of the bridge. "You all know how dangerous this will be." He added.  
  
They knew all right. Enought so that Claudia tried to protest on the plan. Gloval kept walking, assuring that there was no other way. Claudia gave in.  
  
"Yes sir. All sections will be prepared for an immediate counter-attack." she said, as steadfastly as Gloval had announced his intentions.  
  
"Good." As he answered, the Captain stepped toward the door and banged his head on the door frame. It happened to him sometimes, as the door had been made too small for really tall people like Captain Gloval or Colonel Meistrov. The greying man mumbled curses at the door and at the engineers who built it, before regaining his restreint and retiring from his bridge. Immediately Lisa Hayes took command, swiftly and without hesitation.  
  
"All right then, girls. Claudia, I want you to program an attack vector into the computer so that our task will be simplified. Vanessa, scan the enemy position and choose the best coordinates for a successful counter-attack. Sammie, you arrange communication channels so that we know what happens in the ship as it happens. Kim, you contact the commanders of both the Destroid and Veritech forces. That way they'll be able to work out a strategy in synch with ours. Everybody understands? Great, lets do it." With that parting remark, the second-in-command of the SDF-1 turned her full attention to her own duties.  
  
Kim Young was less than thrilled about her duties. Calling the two commanders was unnerving when you thought about it, especially because of the reason of her call. Commander Rodonov wasn't a bad prospect; after all, his forces would do the defense of the ship no matter what. In this case, there might be more pressure, but not that much. He might not even grumble much about the main plan.  
  
Commander Fokker would however. In a counter-attack, it will be his pilots who will have to do the most fighting and take the most risks. In this case, he'd probably end up losing many men - far too many. He was bound to be not only grumbling, but plain angry. He was effectively the least person she wanted to call. Choosing to face the worst first, Kim called up the Veritech Command Compound. She was told Commander Fokker would be back momentarily, so she busied herself with other duties for a few moments. The veritech commander called her up on the private intercom soon.  
  
"Bridge administration, this is Fokker. What is it, Kim?" he seemed wary of her answer. And none too eager to hear it. But she had to tell him. So she took a breath and told him what Gloval had told the bridge crew not long before. When she was finished explaining, there was a thick silence over the line as Fokker obviously digested what he had heard. Then he spoke.  
  
"A...counter...attack?" was the reply. Even thought it was said steadily, the spacing of the three words spoke volumes about the veteran's true state of being. She was glad that the line she was talking to him with had no visual.  
  
"Okay." he said as she acknowledged his own question. "Where's the Captain?" her heart sank and she sighed. So it was to be that again, huh? Oh well.  
  
"He was retiring to his quarters. His shift is over." she answered.  
  
"Thanks Kim. See ya." and the communication was over. Kim blew air in exasperation. Fokker would go see Gloval and the two would certainly butt heads about the viability of the mission. Gloval would of course argue his point and win the support of the veritech commander. It had happened before and would certainly happen again.  
  
"Why can't you just say 'yes'." the administration officer muttered as she called the destroid commander.  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Gendorsky rushed to the pilots' gathering, fearing to be late. The call to the pilots had been issued while he was nearly on the other side of town, strolling quietly in one of its recreated parks. He sprinted much of the distance, and subsequently arrived to the meeting horribly winded. He panted, eyes glazed and lungs burning from exhaustion. Looking over, he saw that most of the other pilots were in the mission yard, chatting or lounging around. He saw none of his own unit and wondered where they could be in the throng.  
  
A hard slap on the back knocked out what little air remained in him. Choking and wheezing he turned and was suddenly face-to-face with the joyous indian face of James Galger.  
  
"Hehe. Hello there pally! So ready to hear what the up-and-ups have in store fer us?"  
  
"Y...yes, sir" he gasped in response. Another slap choked him.  
  
"Aww! No need to call me that, Matt! James well be fine!" was the cheerful retort. Was this guy always in such an euphoric mood? cringed Gendorsky.  
  
It was only a matter of time before they found the others, who were chatting - if you can call monosyllabic exchanges "chatting". Two stoic nods were all the two more emotional members of Indigo squadron received before a Line officer walked on the raised platform in front of the pilots and called for attention. In moments, perfect military lines were formed, and the officer presented the situation.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, " he began in a clipped, no-nonsensical voice "No one knows more than you about the precariousness of the SDF-1's situation and so I'll say nothing on it. However, a plan has been formulated and accepted by the various branches of the command structure to slip throught the enemy lines to rejoin in aiding Earth's defense. The plan is simple: at 7H00 tomorrow the SDF-1 will be on the verge of leaving the rings of Saturn. At that moment, the Defense Forces will initiate a counter-attack."  
  
There were mumurs of anxiety and surprise at this. None of the pilots seemed to be able to totally cope with the situation they were facing. Galger cursed softly about the sheer craziness of the plan. Conway frowned in obvious displeasure and even Nagashiwa seemed to lose some of her cool. As for Gendorsky himself, he was thunderstruck. The Defense Forces had, what, perhaps four hundred Veritechs, five hundred Destroids. Add to that automated 22G-Blue Fighters and they had, at most, one thousand. Now that fleet, one hundred thousand warships, they must have hundreds of thousands of those...what do they call it...pods, yeah. Dammit, there was just no way they could win this! The officer addressing the pilots might have been aware of that, but then he hid it well, letting no emotion show on his face or in his subsequent speech.  
  
"The plan is to attack and destroy an enemy cruiser, then pass throught the smaller ships stationed around it, thus interrupting their flanking maneuvers. This will be a very dangerous mission, and it is no secret that many will not be coming back. But this is our only hope to escape. So, good luck and remember everyone here is counting on you. And if you need to see someone, do it tonight. That is all. Dismissed." The officer left the platform as quickly and as calmly as he had come. The pilots dismissed, but only to gather in nervous groups to discuss what they had heard. An anxious buzz floated over the area. His squadron did the same, gathering to discuss. Galger immediately showed his colors.  
  
"I think Gloval must have gone potty to either think or allow something like that! And Fokker's just as whacked to go along with it!"  
  
Nagashiwa fixed him with a slightly superior glare, her delicate asian features darkening. "Sergeant, it's not your place to make such comments about our commanding officers!" she stated coldly. Galger returned the glare in kind, unimpressed.  
  
"Yeah? Well, Ice Queen, tell me what's sane about this plan because I'D like to know! Or are you just a fool who blindly follows orders?!?"  
  
The young lieutenant's face colored. Obviously sensing an imminent disaster, Conway stepped in.  
  
"This bickering is pointless. We have to follow our orders no matter what they tell us right now. We're in the military, after all." It was a very neutral statement, so calmly said that it diffused the tense moment. Galger sighed and, after a moment, nodded wearily.  
  
"Yeah, yer right. But I don't like it."  
  
"I don't think they want us to like it." Gendorsky said dully. All three looked at him.  
  
"Matt's gotta point." agreed the indian. "I wonder what the commanders think of this?"  
  
"We like it about as much as you do." said a voice. They turned from their discussion to find their Squadron Leader standing close by looking at them. They walked towards him. Conway spoke up immediately.  
  
"Commander. What is the battle plan for tomorrow?"  
  
"Standard counter-attack method from the Shadow Zone and outward. The squadron will be merged into various Main Squadrons. The largest, Skull - in which we will be - will be the spearpoint of the counter-attack."  
  
"And what will ensure that the SDF-1 will be successfull in the outflanking?" asked Nagashiwa.  
  
Lenardais shrugged. "As for that, you'd have to ask Gloval or Hayes. Put it out of your minds. Our task is to protect the SDF-1 as long as we can and thats exactly what we'll do. Understood?"  
  
"Yes sir!" said four voices.  
  
"Good. Gendorsky?"  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"I've assigned you to Veritech 424. Go make sure that it will be ready for tomorrow."  
  
"Aye!"  
  
"Excellent. See you tomorrow people." with that parting remark, he walked away from the group. They watched him go. Then Gendorsky quickly went to check on his veritech, wishing them all good luck tomorrow.  
  
He knew they'd need it.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
March 10, 2009, Inside Saturn's Rings  
  
James Galger never liked it when he didn't know what would happen to him. He never would. And that was why he always put a jovial or passionate facade on things. Six years in the military -four in the RDF- had made him cynical and wry. All that made him a very dislikable person when the situation was grim. But it was the only thing that could hide his fear. And right now he was terrified. Terrified of the fact that he was going to fight, going to kill, perhaps going to die. Such were his somber thoughts.  
  
So he joked around on overdrive. From his quarters, onward on the jeep (where other pilots almost strangled him, to be sure) and as he climbed the steel stairs inside his Veritech. He had briefly seen his teammates, including an absolutely shitless Gendorsky, but barely had the time to wish them luck before the alert sounded. And then there was no time to lose. Inside his veritech, his facade crumbled and his worry became evident. With an effort, he pushed his fear aside. I'm not a whimp, he thought, I've seen my share of battles. I survived. I will survive again! With that thought, he put the veritech into waiting position as other fighters launched one after the other into the asteroid-filled space of Saturn's Rings. Soon it was his turn.  
  
"Skull thirty-five, ready for launch." he said calmly, subduing the fear completely. Fear had no place in what lay ahead.  
  
"Roger." answered a woman's voice. And he flew away. After years of dodging fire in the Anti-Unification Skirmishes, zigzagging his way throught slow-moving asteroids wasn't much of a snatch. He easily kept up with the other crafts and stayed in formation. He even allowed himself some leisure as he thought about what he might do when he got back. A shower for sure. Then probably take a turn in a bar or some such place. Perhaps he'd take Matt with him. The boy was unsure of himself and of his worth, but Galger was willing to bet it wouldn't last. There was a pretty good man beyond the inexperience. If he survived, he'd learn fast.  
  
If he survived.  
  
He was brought short on his musings by the voice of the Veritech Commander. Roy Fokker appeared on a sub-screen, looking composed and determined. And deadly serious.  
  
"This is Skull One to all fighters." he called grimly. "In T minus twelve seconds we'll enter into the Shadow Zone. So keep one eye on your controls and one on the ice!" The communication ended as abruptly as it had started. The Shadow Zone. It was visible as a black void in front of him. The place were almost no sun rays could penetrate. Inside this, the computer and excellent dodging skills were all that could stand between life and death. The twelve seconds passed only too quickly for him. Then all was darkness. Boulders of ice and small asteroids passed him and a few tried to collide with him. He obligingly disappointed them with quick maneuvers. At least two others made unlikable aquaintances, however, if he could judge the two far-flung fireball he saw briefly.  
  
"Skull Sixty-Three to Skull Thirty-Five. This is crazy! What good will it be if we're dead before we strike?!?" The slightly panicky voice belonged to Mathew Gendorsky. Galger wasn't surprised. After all, this was his first mission. And what a mission!  
  
"Calm down, Matt. That's the best way to come on the enemy forces while they're unknowing. Just take it instride and remember your training. You'll be..." he was cut off.  
  
"This is Delta. Do you two remember that communication must be minimal? This is no time for chatting!" This was certainly Commander Hayes.  
  
Galger gritted his teeth. "I wasn't 'chatting', sir. I was attempting..."  
  
"I don't care what you were attempting. This is a mission, not a counseling session."  
  
You cold-blooded, arrogant bitch! thought the american indian furiously. What would you know of aircraft missions?! He was about to say exactly that, but she cut off the transmission. He cursed loudly.  
  
"Sorry, James." said Gendorsky dejectedly. Galger snorted.  
  
"Don't worry about it kiddo. Just watch yourself." he cut off transmission, still fuming against Line Officers. Just then, Commander Fokker reappeared on the subscreen.  
  
"We're about to leave the Shadow Zone. Full speed ahead. Let them have it boys! Attack!!!"   
  
The dark area cleared suddenly, and over three hundred Veritech fighters soared to meet waves upon waves of enemy pods. Games of cats and mouses were begun as skirmishes exploded everywhere Galger could see. Explosions menaced to blind him at times as missiles and beam weapons fired with abandon. The Robotech Defense Forces were outnumbered nearly ten-to-one, by the looks of things. For all their firepower, the alien forces's pods were poor foes, however. They only had two main beam weapons, which they could only fire in a limited arc. Their speed wasn't quite the equivalent to a Veritech and their poor maneuvrability made them ridiculously easy targets. Pods burst everywhere as the dogfights spread. But the human fighters certainly weren't invincible either and while five pods were destroyed for one plane, the enemy still was too much. This was simply a doomed attempt.  
  
But Galger had no time for such worries now. Already he had dispatched two pods that had been firing at friendly units and he was engaged in combat with another one. It was tailing him rather obtusely, following his movements to the letter. Quickly it became clear that the enemy pilot was poor imagination-wise. The american feinted to the left and then did a full turn right, confusing the enemy which was swiveling to the left - as he had predicted. Without pausing, he opened fire with five missiles at point-blank range. The pod never had a chance. Scratch three. And then there were more pods flying around, flocking to him like hungry mosquitoes. Survival took precedence over everything. Galger's world was reduced to his throttle and the firing system.  
  
When he did have time to look around again, he saw a veritech being pursued by three pods near him. As he prepared to go to the pilot's rescue, the fleeing veritech transformed to guardian mode, kicked afterburners to launch himself backward and passed between the pods which ended up bringing themselves short in confusion. Before any could do anything, the guardian launched a volley of missiles and transformed to battloid mode, hefting its riffle. Two pods were destroyed by the missiles and as the third attempted to evade, it was brought down by riffle fire. As the third pod exploded, the battloid changed back to plane mode. All in all it had taken but six or eight seconds. A risky but brilliant maneuver. Whoever that pilot was, it was some hotshot at fighting.  
  
"Skull Three to Skull Thirty-Five. How are you doing, Galger?"  
  
Galger was dumbstruck. "That you Commander?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah. You holding up?"  
  
"Huh...yeah. Yeah sure I am!" said the american, recovering. Woah, so the guy was as good as the gossip went! He flew on the wing of the other veteran quickly. And looked about. No pods in their area.  
  
"Holy shit! What are they doing?!" Lenardais sounded surprised, awed and exasperated at the same time. Galger looked ahead and caught the desire to say the same words. The SDF-1 was thrusting its right 'arm' - the Deadalus - into the enemy cruiser. Uncertain as to what this would accomplish, he looked on. And the enemy cruiser seemed to boil from inside as the Deadalus was retrieved. Covulsing, the greenish metal shattered in many places, rupturing the hull. The cruiser exploded in a gigantic deflagration. Mission accomplished, thought the american, accomplished in a hell of a strange way but accomplished. We can go home now.  
  
A few moments later, the order to return back to the ship was effectively passed, and the RDF fighters broke up the fight, returning solo or in groups. Lenardais and he returned together and waited for clearance. In under a minute it was given. Lenardais went first, changing to guardian mode to activate retro-boosters.  
  
They didn't go.  
  
A instant passed between the realization and Lenardais communication that compounded his fears.  
  
"Retro-boosters will not activate, Delta. Clear the deck immediately." The voice was calm, thought Galger knew from experience the guy was probably scared as hell. The Veritech continued its descent at alarming speeds. At this rate, it would against the far walls.  
  
"Deck is cleared, Skull Three." said a worried - could a woman like Hayes really be worried? - Lisa Hayes. "Nets on standby."  
  
"Understood." Then the guardian shifted to battloid mode as it barreled for the wall. Suddenly its arms extended. Its hands touched the deck and screeched across it for a long moments before the metal fingers bent because of the horrendous pressure. But it was enought to slow the craft so the nets could stop it completely.  
  
"Landing successful." said Lenardais with a wry but relieved sigh.  
  
"Good work, Skull Three." said an equally relieved Commander Hayes.  
  
Galger missed on the rest of the discussion. In fact, he paid attention to little until he had his clearance granted. In his head the day's toll was becoming taxing. He wanted the explosions and the bloodshed to go away. He'd seen enought of both! Enought to plague him the rest of his life. But the horror of them would remain. As long as they would, he'd get little precious sleep.  
  
Better get used to it, he sighedmentally, for this isn't over by a long shot with those giants. Bet on it. With that gloomy thought, he flew in to park his veritech as technicians hurried to his Squadron leader's crashed battloid.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  



	5. Chapter 4: A Date and a Grim Discovery

Chapter 4   
  
March 11, 2009, Between Saturn and Jupiter   
  
"And while the battle was possibly a cause of the retroboosters' imbalance, I must express serious doubts, as this officer used said system during the Battle of Saturn and had first-hand visual confirmation of their proper functioning parameters. That the primary and secondary failsafe never took over the supposed damaged circuitry is certainly cause for suspicion. It is the hope of this officer that the Investigation Section find a noteworthy reason as for this failure."   
  
Thank you,   
  
Alexander Lenardais   
Lt.Cmdr, SDF-1   
  
The commander of Indigo Squadron reread his report quickly. Finding no obvious faults to it, he had it sent to the administration department of the ship. He truly hoped that the investigation would find something interesting or at least something better than pilot error. He snorted. I'm the first to know I can make mistakes, he thought somberly, but I'm also the first to know I don't make those kinds of mistakes. Of course the pilots - especially the veteran pilots - didn't believe that he could either, and blamed the machine for it. As for the Line officers...well, most of them agreed, but a few others thought he might be the problem. Lenardais dwelled on that only briefly, then shrugged. He still had the full confidence of the pilots, and that was what counted to him.   
  
He rose from his chair and paced the room for a while, trying to decide how he could spend the evening. Maybe he'd just go and take a walk throught the parks, or go chat with some of the on-duty pilots back at the hangars. Perhaps, even better, he could get there and call the bridge so he could do a little flying...   
  
"I'm missing something here." he mumbled. "Why does thinking of the bridge...?" Then he remembered. Looked at his watch. And cursed in irritation and dismay. DAMN! Vanessa! The date! How could I forget the date?!? Of course the fact that he had been in battle - and almost been killed in relation to it - did not seem to him a very good excuse. However, he knew he still had twenty-five minutes: enought time to change into something a little more suitable than uniform underwear and run for his life in the hopes of arriving to the meeting place he had blurted out when he had stupidly invited her on impulse. In ten minutes he had shaved, brushed his teeth and jumped into a nice civilian attire: black pants, pale blue shirt and dark brown jacket. He then zoomed off his quarters and rushed off, his inner voice teasing him about his habits of getting himself into those kinds of ridiculous jams. He squashed it quickly before he laughed. After all, a Squadron Commander running throught corridors and parts of the city laughing might get him into worse trouble than he already could be putting himself into and not to maention give him a hell of a bad reputation.   
  
He was physically fit, for piloting was demanding, and piloting a veritech even more so. Thought he wasn't an addict in exercices, he still practiced his karate in the training complex and performed the necessary exercises demanded by the rules of the RDF Veritech Division. So he reached the site - the front of the reconstructed City Hall. He slowed to a hurried pace, and slowed again to walking when he was surprised to find not only Vanessa Leeds waiting but also Roy Fokker and his girlfriend, third-in-command Claudia Grant. This discovery made him skid to a stop. No way were they going to see him trying to catch his breath! He took to the shade given from the side of the building and recuperated for a moment. The trio hadn't noticed him, at least. They were still chatting casually and amiably. From time to time, however, Vanessa would look at her watch then cast her gaze around, seemingly worried. And each time Roy said something that seemed reassuring. Of course, Alex couldn't know what they were talking about, but he fancied that the slim bridge lieutenant was worried about him not showing up. That thought was awfully nice...even if it was only a fancy. Guess I ought to show up then.   
  
He left the side of the building and swiftly walked across the street. Claudia spotted him first and indicated him to the others. Thought they both were smiling when they saw him, he saw a look of relief flicker in the eyes of Roy and Vanessa. Thought I wasn't gonna show up, huh? he reflected ruefully. Good thing I did, if only to spite you.   
  
"Hey Al! So, decided to show up, pal?" inquired Roy as he came close. The two friends shook hands.   
  
"Of course I'd show up. Wouldn't want to give you the satisfaction of hearing otherwise!!" Alex mocked. They all laughed at the small friendly tease. During that time, the smaller pilot looked at his date more closely. He found her stunning in a dark blue blouse and a long black skirt, both doing nothing to downsize her lithe body and long, athletic legs. Her face showed open eagerness, curiosity and - or so he fancied - a bit of shyness. Which was less than he, who felt so stiff with dread he almost felt like going to an hangar and beg a pilot to let him do his patrol. As it was, only the presence of Roy and the pride that had held him together in the darkest hours of his life forced him to stay. Not that he minded dating a girl as bright and as beautiful as Vanessa Leeds. Far from it. But chronic fear was something that one didn't get rid of easily. The added female presence of Claudia only exacerbated his feelings of fear. As such, he clamped his emotional shield around him and tried to only let positive feelings seep throught it. So far, it seemed to be working.   
  
"Well, now that we're all here, I propose we all go and get something to eat. Any takers?" This said by Claudia, who looked at the two bickering men - and especially Roy - with an indulgent and fond smile. The two men stared at each other for a second, a second in which, mock-threats, jokes and friendly teases passed at light speed between them. A second only, and they looked away with almost childish smiles. At that very moment, one would have been baffled to know they were hardened, ace veritech pilots. Claudia looked at them with an amused and exasperated expression, fairly throwing up her hands and catching hold of Roy's arm. The tall pilot chuckled and put his arm around the african woman's shoulder. He motioned for Alex and Vanessa to follow. As they walked away from them, the young commander felt a fluttering in his chest and something cold clamp down his stomach. Inwardly cursing himself, he ignored both feelings and smiled at his date, bowing slightly as his arm indicated the departing duo.   
  
"Well, shall we go, m'lady?" he said, mimicking the clipped, polite ways of men of England. The brunette hesitated, then smiled back, althought a trifle uncomfortably. He thought he knew why. But at least she smiled.   
  
"Yeah. Lets." She said. He extended his hand, and she took it. Still somewhat wary underneath. Still unsure of him. He didn't blame her. He had been a complete, thoroughly illogical jerk, and it was normal he'd get to pay for it. He wanted to make it certain that he was sorry, that this was caused by the stress of being timed-displaced and compounded by being revisited with an old but great pain. More than that, he wanted to say this would never happen again, that he'd never willingly hurt her.   
  
But he wouldn't, couldn't do it. He knew the words he had to say, when to say them, but couldn't get past the wall of guilt he had put around himself over the incident. He had always been like this. When he felt guilty about something, he let it rankle until it hurt him far more than necessary. Some sort of twisted idea of atonement? Perhaps. And for all the people who had tried to push him out of this funk, he had never let go of that particular unhealthy habit.   
  
They strolled leisurely, all four of them, chatting happily to each other, until they reached the restaurant. This was, so far, the only civilian restaurant available in Macross City, althought others would be opened within days. Being in space and constantly harrassed by enemy ships, entertainment was fast becoming paramount, as the civilians tried to live out their lives as normally as possible and as the soldiers tried to leave the stress of the ship behind. Of course, there where places where the military officers gathered for casual get-togethers, but it was decided silently that these weren't exactly good places for dating. So they had made a logical, and again silent, choice.   
  
The restaurant itself was a well-kept place, definitely asian in nature with tapestries and carved corean wooden plates on the walls. The common room wasn't full - they were in the early evening, after the main rush- but here and there where seated people and couples, some with children, enought to put a very comfortable mood about the place. Nice smells of food wafted from the kitchen where a short, round cheerful man was working. Claudia commented that this really seemed a fine place, and the others assented freely. After a moments wait they were taken by a young waitress to a table. As they sat, Alex wondered about the girl, feeling he knew her somewhat. He wracked his brain for a possible answer without his main organ giving anything other than that feeling. Such it was that he only caught up with the last words of Roy's sentence.   
  
"...went okay, huh?"   
  
He glanced at Roy, confused. "Sorry, didn't get that. What did you just say?"   
  
"I said: "Taking the circumstances, I guess the battle went okay?""   
  
Alex shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess. We held up pretty good. We lost a lot of people, thought. But then, we could only expect it. I heard we lost Hemmings and Siroix." His tone was somber: he had known these commanders a long time, even thought they weren't friends.   
  
Roy nodded soberly. "Yeah, we did. Along with nearly two-thirds of of fighter forces and a fourth of our destroids. Including the few deaths onboard ship during the attack, we can say that its a tragedy without exagerating."   
  
"Could be worse." said Vanessa. "We could be all dead right now."   
  
"There's that." admitted Alex. "But its not much better knowing each victory is hollow."   
  
"At least we made it all in one piece." Claudia observed, indicating herself and her three companions. Alex opened his mouth to speak and comment on that, but closed it as the waitress who had led them to the table came near them again to take their orders. The young commander observed her again, trying to remember who she was. Young, much younger than he was, pretty cute, blueish-black hair, high but not unpleasant voice. Naivete almost stamped on her forehead. Yes, it doubtlessly fit someone he had either met or heard about recently. But who?   
  
The answer to the question came abdruptly and quickly, however, as the girl caught sight of Roy. Her small but sincere smile widened and her eyes brightened slightly.   
  
"Hello, Commander Fokker! How are you?"   
  
"Ho, hi there Minmay!" exclaimed Roy. "Didn't know it was you serving us. I'm fine, thanks. And you? Pretty as ever?"   
  
Minmay blushed at the remark, giggling girlishly. Alex decided that this girl deserved the 'naive' mark he had mentally stamped on her, to react to such a transparent comment. Yet he might as well stamp the word 'forgetful' on himself. All this time and all the talks that he had had with his old friend, all the times he had described Rick and Minmay and yet he hadn't clicked. Boy, did he feel like a loser! He shrugged off these unsavory thoughts and rejoined the outside world.   
  
He ordered some light food- fish and rice - with a chicken-flavored asian soup, then waited until everyone had taken their orders before speaking again.   
  
"Hey, I forgot to ask, how did Rick take his first fight?"   
  
The veritech commander sighed. "Well, not too badly, given the circumstances. Nearly got shot a few times. Went as far as finding himself inside the enemy ship. Froze when he saw a giant man right in front of him. Got himself out right before the explosion. All in all, given he's not catatonic, I'd say he handled it well."   
  
Alex, Vanessa and Claudia all felt a bit breathless after this verbal outing. Vanessa was the first to recover.   
  
"Then he's just the type of pilot we need." she turned to Alex. "And you, commander Lenardais? How was your command?" she said it with an itsy-bitsy point of irony that tugged at his combativity, but he chose to ignore it and answered that all his pilots, even Gendorskly, had done rather well.   
  
"Althought I almost had to restrain Galger when he went hunting for commander Hayes to teach her 'moderation'. He was ready to take off after her after he saw me at..." his relaxed demeanor faded, as did his smile. Silence clamped down on the group as the man struggled with his emotions for a moment. He coughed then went on. "my crash. he finished softly and lamely."   
  
Roy went somber at that, also thinking about the crash. "It was a close call, Al. If you hadn't used the battloid mode..." he stopped when he realized what he was saying, flushed and started again. "Problem is, it shouldn't have happened. Ever." Claudia and Alex both nodded in agreement, but Vanessa looked clueless, and asked why it could never happen. Claudia explained it to her.   
  
"A veritech fighter is built to be a safe fighting craft, even should an emergency occur. Because of that, there are two back-up circuits on each systems, including all the boosters. To have the principal circuit and both back-ups fail at the same time is...why, the chances would normally be laughable."   
  
"Yes, it would be." stated Alex morosely. "But, hell, it happened. And when I heard Meistrov and his ilk suggest it was an error on my part..." he snorted in disgust. Roy made a calming gesture as the two women looked at him sympathetically. "Stop thinking about that moron. Meistrov never went into combat. He's a strategist. Gloval doesn't think that you made a mistake, and that matters far more. It was clear from the records that you did everything you had to do as far as standard landing maneuvers went. Exactly like the book said. We'll just have to wait for the investigating pilots and engineers to make their report." He seemed to remember something. "Oh, that's right!" he exclaimed. "Al, I got something for you."   
  
Lenardais was definitely perplexed of this sentence. Perplexe and, of course, wary. After all, everything could happen when he was Roy's wingman. As his commander, Roy's influence seemed to widen the definition of 'everything'. So the word 'something' made him wary.   
  
"Well?" he asked, a trifle impatiently. "What is it?"   
  
Roy was about to speak when their dinner arrived. He shrugged and smiled at his friend. "Tell you later. Lets eat!" He dug into his food eagerly.   
  
Irritated, Lenardais nonetheless smiled at Vanessa, pushed his irritation as far back as it would go. And also dug in. It could wait. Not long, but his curiosity could wait.   
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
In a captain's life and duties, few things are as upsetting and as saddenning as looking over and revising the death toll of a battle. To see the names of people you either knew or at least heard about listed, and to know you're at least part of the reason those names are printed there, was shocking to say the least. It was also quite unbearable if one wasn't used to it.   
  
At least Fleet Captain Henry Gloval was used to it. As far as others under his command were concerned, at any rate. What he felt inside was another matter entirely. Inside, he felt just as badly as when he had first been after his first great battle as first officer under then-Captain Hayes, Lisa's famous father. All those years ago. At the time, he had felt irritation at the people in his High Command when they showed so little emotion over the deaths their orders had caused. To him, it had felt that they really didn't care. He knew better now. As you get older and higher in the ranks, people start to look up to you, and they don't expect you to fall apart easily. So those in command gradually learned to erect walls around their emotions, especially those like sadness or grief. But inside, they were still very feeling human beings.   
  
He looked over the list once more, sadly and angrily. Of the six hundred veritechs that had entered the field, four hundred and eighty-three had been destroyed. Worse still, only twenty-seven of those pilots survived. As for the Destroid section, it wasn't much better. Five hundred in the field, two hundred and twelve destroyed, eight pilots rescued. No wonder captains always hated arithmetics. The irking thing was, he was good at it. How grand.   
  
Was that mad plan the best you could do, Henri? he reflected sourly. Could you have thought of something better? He didn't know. Never would know. But he hoped to do better soon, because he was tired of losing so many people in each engagement. The problem was, he had no idea what else to do. The SDF-1 was an extremely powerful ship, probably able to take a few enemy ships head-on. But tens of thousands? And even if they made it back to earth, what could they do? Earth's Space Forces now consisted of only a few ships now, insignificant compared to the alien fleet. The Grand Cannon? Gloval shook his head. He never had liked the thing, had always called it "a virtual time-bomb", a position that had shaken and all but destroyed his and Admiral Hayes's friendship. It wasn't operational yet, and even if it was, could it deal with the entire enemy fleet? Doubtful. Very doubtful.   
  
And now, to top all that, there may be a saboteur on the ship! As soon as Meistrov had thought of the notion of pilot error, Gloval had checked Lenardais's file. They were impressive, showing the profile of an excellent pilot with a good grasp of strategy. And by no means an amateur who would make a landing error. To his grief, the Captain of the SDF-1 and Commander of the Earth Fleet had to admit the notion of sabotage, which was becoming widespread, was the one he believed in the most.   
  
Gloval groaned. All of this was giving him a headache! He stood from his desk, fully intending to take a walk to somewhere - anywhere - not near areas of work and was stopped by the chime of the intercom. He sighed. Everyone but him could relax on this ship. Before the iron will took over again, he thought it really wasn't fair. And then he was completely in command once more.   
  
"Gloval here." he stated stonily.   
  
"Sorry to disturb you, sir," said a slightly anxious voice. "but we've finished our primilinary survey and inspection of Skull Three. We don't have a report yet, but we've found some disturbing evidence. Would you like to see it, sir?"   
  
Gloval pondered it for a moment, then said. "Yes, I will join your team shortly. Gloval out." He put his captain's hat on and walked out of his quarters, glad to have somewhere to go to, even if he knew he wouldn't like what he was going to be told one bit.   
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
"So. Are you going to tell me or not?"   
  
They had just departed from the chinese restaurant when Lenardais asked this of Roy. Claudia smiled as she knew how the blond pilot would react to the question. She wasn't disappointed.   
  
"What do you mean by that?" Roy asked innocently. Claudia wasn't fooled. Lenardais wasn't either. Not wishing to spoil the moment, the african officer hid her smile with her hand. The shorter man made a disgusted sound and threw uphis hands in exasperation. "The 'something' you got for me, damn it. Don't play the fool. Just spill it." the brown-haired man assumed an air of matyrdom. "Please?" he added tiredly.   
  
"Okay, okay. Here you go." said Roy with a wink, drawing a folded paper from his pocket. Lenardais grabbed it, unfolded it and read fast. His eyes widened. He re-read it again, his expression taking on an undefinable expression. He looked back at Roy in disbelief. Claudia saw that her boyfriend had a very self-congratulating look on his face. Now what is that overgrown kid up to? she asked herself. She looked at Vanessa, and saw the girl hanging back, with a look that indicated faint confusion and dismay. She didn't blame her. Roy and Alex were different kinds of men, which made them such good friends. They had, however, two main points in common: incredible flying skills, and the need to argue with each other any way they can. This kind of stuff took some getting used to. Claudia was, but she wasn't sure Vanessa was yet. She leaned towards the glasses-wearing brunette with a smile.   
  
"Don't worry." she said playfully. "They're always like that." This caught the two men off-guard.   
  
"We're not!" said Alex defensively. "We just like talking certain matters throught!" He waved the paper under Roy's nose. "And that is one such matters!"   
  
"Remember, they're just big kids. Very cute, very talented kids, but kids anyway." finished Claudia as if she hadn't heard a word the smaller pilot had said. This time, Vanessa couldn't keep out a chuckle.   
  
Lenardais threw up his arms in surrender. "I get no respect!" he said to no one in particular. "First this damn piece of paper and now two girls laughing at me!"   
  
"Oh, man, come on!" stated an amused Roy. "Those orders aren't so bad and, besides, Claudia's partly right." Emphasis on 'partly'. Proof that he had been irked just as much as his friend but didn't want to show it too much. Good!   
  
"Those orders are hell! A course in tactics in the academy. I've never taught ANYTHING at ANY academy! I'm in no way qualified..." started Lenardais hotly.   
  
"Well, your years of fighting during the Global Civil War and the knowledge you've acquired during the war here with the....Zentreadi....does give you a lot of creditentials." That argument came, surprisingly, from Vanessa. They were all shocked, Lenardais most of all.   
  
"Don't take his side!" Alex exclaimed, distraught. "You're going to make him feel all swell-headed now!"   
  
"But its true." noted Vanessa.   
  
"Yeah." laughed Roy.   
  
"I think so too." stated Claudia, who was trying hard not to smile.   
  
The squadron commander looked at the people around him in dismay, then seemed to deflate. He had lost this one, and was slowly accepting it.   
  
"Those girls won't learn a lot." he mumbled. "Especially with me."   
  
Claudia blinked, then laughed. So that was it! Roy had given his friend an all-female class! No wonder the boy, with his constant problems with the opposite sex, wasn't at all enthused by the prospect. But, then again, being forced to interact that way with women might help him. Claudia thought so and she was pretty sure Lenardais did too, although he'd never show it, pride forbid. He wouldn't appreciate the being forced into this either. Well, it wasn't her problem. Let dear Roy take the hits when they came.   
  
"Ahh, don't worry buddy." the tall pilot said, his eyes still twinkling. "They'll be so impressed by you you'll have no problems. After all, you're the Hero of Macross City, and these girls are almost all from Macross City!"   
  
Alex grunted something which sounded definitely ungentle, and the discussion dropped back to silence as they made their way to the new military bar which had opened a few days ago. Roy had visited it once by himself and announced it to be great. Personally Claudia had doubts, but then she'd never been big on bars. But as both men had seemed so intent on going to that place, she had kept her peace. As for Vanessa, she had seemed not to care where they went at that moment, but said that if there was a dance floor, that she wanted Lenardais to dance with her at least once.   
  
That had made the young man sputter and blush, while Claudia had her hands full stopping Roy from bursting into a series of teases which she knew might traumatize his friend at that moment. She was partially successful, an sharp shot of her elbow digging into his side being all the warning he needed to calm down. However, it didn't stop him from announcing that the bar indeed had a very popular dance floor. Vanessa had at once smiled. And Alex had blushed redder, stuttering that, hum, sure, if you want, I'll take you to the dance floor.   
  
She only hoped he wouldn't faint from holding a woman that close!   
  
They finally made it to the bar in question, and as soon as she saw the interior - the exterior looked rather typical so she couldn't rather make an opinion - she felt better. The bar wasn't a smokey thing like she'd seen in her years before, but rather a clean, refreshing place with low-level conversations. A large bar with two barmen taking orders or cleaning glasses and many men - destroid, veritech and line officers her, no difference was made - were drinking and joking. Many tables, served by young men and women, were also about, indeed surrounding a dance floor where about half a dozen couples danced on what was presently a soft music.   
  
Roy looked around, then back at her, beaming. "Ain't it great, huh?" he said enthusiastically.   
  
She nooded, but before she could say anything, a scene took hold of her attention. A pilot wearing the rank of lieutenant-commander slammed his drink on the bar, smacked money with an almost-violent jerk on it, then made his way towards the door, a dark scowl upon his face. As he passed the four, he flashed a look of jealousy and spite at Alex, who returned the stare gravely, but not showing anything more than faint pity. The other man must have seen the pity, for he seemed to be about to say something, but then realized the Veritech Commander himself was watching the scene intently. Thus, the man turned on his heels and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.   
  
Claudia turned to a somber Roy. "What was that all about?"   
  
The tall blond pilot only shook his head a little bitterly, exchanged a knowing look with his friend and subordinate, and then resumed his jolly air as if nothing had happened. Claudia sighed. She knew those signs. Roy wasn't about to tell her. But then she saw the curious fire in Vanessa's eyes and smiled. The bridge bunny wanted to know what that was all about too. And she would certainly ask Alex.   
  
Roy she knew would resist her attempt, he could be stubborn at times.   
  
But would the younger pilot, unused to dealing with women, resist Vanessa Leed's questionning? That was another thing entirely.   
  
Chuckiling softly, she then went to get a drink.   
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
The four people made up of wo pilots and two Line officers weren't the only ones to see the silent but tense altercation. A few others had seen the cold between the two higher-ranking officers and made their own comments about it. Amongst those were two women who knew one of the four very well. They knew talking about others' business was rude and that they shouldn't be discussing the event lest they got the wrong idea.   
  
But then again, when had lieutenants Kim Young and Sammie Porter ever cared about poking their noses where they had no businesses. After all, one of the two men was Vanessa's possible future boyfriend!   
  
"But he didn't seem to want to fight - Vanessa's date, I mean." Sammie noted.   
  
"Right. But you don't get that kind of stare without having done something to ask for it!" Kim countered "Because he's a hero doesn't mean that he's clean and all nice."   
  
Sammie seemed to consider this, then shook her head firmly. "I don't believe it. He's commander Fokker's friend. And I don't think the commander would have a bad guy as a friend." she seemed fairly triumphant in her assessment of the situation.   
  
Kim had to do her share of effort not to sigh outwardly. Sammie was a very sweet young woman, the type who would never hurt anyone and whom no one would ever want to hurt. But with the sweetness came a naiveté, a childish way of seeing relationships and people which sometimes went to tear at the nerves of those who considered themselves her friends. To Sammie, situations were black and white, good or bad, with little grey between the two.   
  
She rubbed her temples, thinking that it seemed she was way more drunk then two drinks should have made her. That, too, was one thing she felt when trying to make Sammie see the aforementioned grey.   
  
"Sammie..." she said tiredly. She then saw that her friend wasn't looking at her at all, but back towards the quatuor. The raven-haired bridge operator gritted her teeth. "Sammie!" she said a little more loudly.   
  
Her younger friend turned her attention back to her with a very dignified "huh?"   
  
Kim took a breath. "I was talking to you. I'd at least like it if you could look at me and listen, you know."   
  
Sammie blinked, then looked slightly sheepish. "Sorry I was just thinking that...you know...good or bad, Vannessa really found herself a cute one this time."   
  
Kim looked at her friend, than at the squadron commander who was busing alternatively drinking and talking to his friend while Claudia and Vanessa did the same between themselves. She had to admit it - bright eyes, a solid, truthful smile and no discernable facial flaws, as well a nice overall physical appearance. Yup, he definitely wasn't that bad! And to think this had come out of the blue, litterally! And he'd worked fine in the SDF-1, partly because of his reputation and partly because of his skills.   
  
"You're right." she grinned "I still couldn't believe it when he just went and asked Vanessa out like that! And right after she told us he was scared of women!"   
  
Both young officers chuckled at remembering the dragooning they had done with the young lieutenant-commander. They had been so angry about the way their friend had been treated - although said friend hadn't appeared to be that angry after the man had given her an apology and a little meal gift personally prepared. It hadn't been enough, in their opinion, and Kim remembered how they'd cornered him while commander Hayes had looked from the side, amused and intrigued.   
  
He had seemed to be about to throw a fit of anxiety when they went after him like wasps, but had retained control of himself and nervously tried to talk it over. But they hadn't relented until, surprisingly, and very seriously, he had asked their friend out, stunning everyone including his own self. A strange way of asking out for a date it had been, but a date was a date, and Vanessa hadn't refused it.   
  
Lucky girl indeed.   
  
"Ack! NOW I'm getting jealous!" Sammie nearly wailed, breaking Kim out her little trance. She indicated the place where their friend and three superior officers had been gathered. She followed her gesture, her eyes scanning the place, zeroing in on the dance floor. She then immediately felt just like Sammie.   
  
Vanessa had managed to get her shy and reluctant date to dance with her - how she'd managed that was beyond the raven-haired operator, but the result was the same. The two were on the dance floor, where a spectacularly nervous Alex Lenardais was busy trying not to step on his partner's feet as the music became slower and more romantic. The slim brunette seemed to find it all rather amusing, for she smiled the entire time.   
  
After a surprisingly little while, the pilot found his pace, and although his nervousness barely diminished, they looked fine together, and Roy Fokker, dancing much more pleasurably with Claudia, gave off a comment which made the other two blush and then laugh nervously.   
  
Kim sighed. "You're right. Lucky gal. Lets tease her tommorrow!" she said, suddenly smiling.   
  
Sammie nodded with a similar smirk. "Oh, yeah! Lets make sure she gets it for having a nice date while we didn't even get one.   
  
Both nodded. The setting was set. Vanessa was going to get it on the morrow!   
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
Lisa Hayes had had a busy day. For nearly twelve hours, she had given orders, reviewed reports and coordinated patrols around the SDF-1, often dragooning the Veritech commanders who were too slow to get into position the way she wanted too - something, she was sad to note, which was giving her a worse and worse reputation amongst the forces which had defended the great battleship - and had almost shouted at a lower bridge operator for telling jokes while on duty.   
  
Thus, she didn't feel all that good about herself and wanted nothing more than spend some off-hours doing something more relaxing. However, captain Gloval had called her on the intercom and told her to come to hanger eleven immediately. She wasn't about to tell her commanding officer no, that simply wasn't done. Not to her anyway. So, sighing to herself, she had gotten back into uniform and gone to the hangar with all haste.   
  
'Sometimes' she thought 'Its really a pain being the First Officer here.' She quashed the thought in dismay, thinking of so many others who worked so hard, of the many Veritech and Destroid personel who had given their lives on Earth and at the Battle of Saturn and the innumerable skirmishes they'd had with the Zentradi forces. No, she had no room to talk. This was war. War is hell and demands sacrifices.   
  
She got to the hangar after being driven there by a jeep, and found many damaged Veritech fighters, each surrounded by a litteral swarm of technicians, machines, and spare parts. Obviously she wasn't the one who was putting in some over time.   
  
In the middle of the material and the noise, removed from the rest of the reparation procedures and surrounded by an even larger swarm of techs and officers, was the infamous Skull Three, stripped of its armor. She stared at it for a moment, forgetting her haste in her amazement.   
  
The SDF-1 was the pride of the Earth Fleet, and not without good reason. But Veritechs were just as praised, for they were fully created by humans, even thought certain technologies had been adapted from a science they didn't fully grasp yet. Beneath the armor was an extremely intricate myriad of micri-motors, alloy bands, wires and electronic devices, a maix which made the Veritech a quantum leap beyond the planes mankind had been using only a decade before. It was the pinnacle of the mix or Earth technology and Robotechnology.   
  
"Ah, commander Hayes. I am glad that you have come. We have grave matters to discuss." came a calm voice she knew, snapping her out of her reverie. God, she really WAS tired.   
  
Not far from her were captain Gloval, standing stiffly, his arms clasped behind him, and another, salt-and-pepper haired man who wore the rank of chief master sergeant. The man looked slighlty dumbfounded by the object he was holding in his hand but wore an equally serious expression. Cold ice running down her spine, she walked to them.   
  
"Captain," she said formally, intrigued now "You called for me?"   
  
A nod. "Yes commander. I want you to hear the explanation this man has just given me so that you may know what has happened as clearly and as directly as I have to my chagrin." the captain turned to the other man. "Master Sergeant Kelleck, would you please explane to the commander what your crew has found?"   
  
The man nodded easily. "Aye-aye, sir. Commander, please take a look at this." He handed her device.   
  
She looked at it attentively. It was small, metellic and cylindrica, with several small but high-power circuits sticking out of it. It was very finely done, and from what she could judge it bespoke of a certain makeshiftness, albeit a very professional one. She could relate it to something easily, however.   
  
She looked at the man. "Is it a fuse?"   
  
The man nodded vigorously. "Exactly, a fuse. A PRE-PROGRAMMED fuse with a miniature receiver. Really an incredible job to cobble that together. This is, in my opinion, what caused the retro-boosters' malfunction." he went to the Veritech, stood under it, pointing at certain circuit lines under the cockpit. The one who did it placed one of these bastards attached to the main retro-booster activation-deactivation circuit, and another attached to the back-up circuit."   
  
He looked at them but his eyes were elsewhere, thinking in engineering terms. "Now, the way I see it, the circuits weren't supposed to activate during the battle."   
  
"Why?" Lisa asked.   
  
"Why not? He had a good chance of getting shot during the Battle of Saturn. No no, these little nasties were designed to go off when the pilot activated his approach transponder, which triggered the program and made these thinks disrupt the retro-booster circuitry. Truly a well-timed assassination attempt."   
  
"Assassination." she breathed. Yes, it all pointed to that, but she couldn't believe someone could be that petty, when mankind's fate hanged in the balance, held by those few pilots and defenders.   
  
Gloval seemed to understand her hesitation. "I know it's a lot to take, commander." he said firmly but sympathetically "But you see the evidence as well as I, and it cannot be denied: there is someone here, on the SDF-1, who wishes commander Lenardais dead and is ready to take drastic steps to do so."   
  
She shook her head. "I understand, captain. I suppose I just can't believe someone would be that foolish as to do such a thing when..." she fell silent.   
  
Gloval nodded in understanding. "I understand how you feel, commander. Only too well." he sighed.   
  
Things, Lisa decided, had just become much, much more complicated. An assassin: just what the ship needed when surrounded by nearly one hundred thousand alien vessels.   
  
* * * * * * * * * *   
  
'I can't believe I went on a date. I can't believe I went on a date!' Lenardais thought wildly, as he walked through the corridors of the 'crew quarters' part of the great ship, a very satisfied-looking Vanessa Leeds holding on to his arm. She had managed to get everything out of him that evening - a lover's dance not being the least of the 'things' she'd acquired from him.   
  
It wasn't a situation he had ever seen himself in, being with a beautiful woman and finding himself less and less nervous towards her as time grew on. During the Global Civil War and during his time he had spent both in the RDF and the United Earth Forces, he had never let a female approach him, surrendering to a fear he simply couldn't fully understand.   
  
Not that he'd been looked after a lot. Oh, sure, a few women tried to get hooked with him - after all, he was one of the aces of Macross City, one of the pilots who had helped in the prior designing of the Veritech Fighter, and had defended the United Earth Goverment in many occasions. But they always gave up, preffering men who didn't well-near run away from them when they came to talk. Even when, with Roy's help, he'd been able to tone the fear down a bit, he'd been unable to muster himself sufficiently to even get into a real date involving women.   
  
That is...until tonight.   
  
He couldn't understand what had happened. He had actually felt in control of himself when with Leeds, as if the female was some sort of talisman against the fear which pervaded his mind and prevented him to have any kind of love life.   
  
That particular walking miracle looked up at him. "It was a good evening, wasn't it?" she asked.   
  
At least it was answer which could come without any soul-searching or questionning. "Yes...it was."   
  
"But I don't get something..."   
  
"Hmm?"   
  
"That lieutenant-commander who looked so...so..."   
  
He sighed. Of course, she couldn't have helped but notice that fact. Dammit, that mission, that fateful mission in Algeria...Abrar...the madness of aerial combat, just as worse as the dogfight of Saturn. However, it was worse...after all, this was the day that... that they had seen and flet the worse...agh, he couldn't think about it yet. He instead concentrated on answering the woman as best as he could without giving in too much detail.   
  
"That was Mario Ferraso, commander of the Green Squadron. We were...we were wingmates for a little while...a eight-men strong wing of advanced 24F fast-response aircrafts. Our wing was sent to that...mission I never told you about...lets just say...Roy, me, Mario and another guy were the only ones which survived what happened. Lets just say our relationship has been...strained since then." He felt her inquisitive eyes on him, but refused to say more.   
  
He'd said too much already. Vanessa obviously saw this, for she let go of the problem with a nod. They continued their walk, passing several crewmembers in uniform, who more often than not looked at them with knowing smiles to the brown-haired pilot's extreme discomfort and annoyance. So it was with a certain amont of relief when they arrived to Vanessa's officer quarters - quarter which were slightly smaller than his, because of the rank difference. It was over for that night. Now he could recuperate and cope with the new experience.   
  
But Leeds proved she wasn't finished with him, as she turned towards him and, with a laugh, put her arms around him and pressed her lips against his. It wasn't long, but to Alex Lenardais, it was an electrifying experience.   
  
He had never been kissed like that in his life. Never. This was all new, and even more frightening than his first flight. He felt small, alone, and scared, his mind streching backward, going back to one of the many blank spaces time had carved into his memory, fueling the fear somehow. But there was surprising pleasure in the sensation, and he found himself accepting it without question.   
  
And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. Vanessa stepped back, looking at him gently, almost shyly. "So, I still kiss well?"   
  
"Errrr..." he seemed unable to put up a complete sentence at that moment, his mind a little shaken, still feeling her lips, burning with the sensation.   
  
She smiled. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. Good night! We'll have to do it again soon!" she opened the door, turned back witrh a smirk. "Oh! And good luck on that all-female class you're going to teach!" And with that the door closed.   
  
He stood there, doing a double-take as he did a double-take, remembering the sort of class his GOOD FRIEND and DESPICABLE COMMANDER Roy had nearly enforced upon him. Knowing there were many other classes at the academy he could teach, he knew the man had arranged all that just so to try and halp Alex find a 'cure' to his female timidity.   
  
So be it. After all, that might mean he'd bee able to get more confortable with Vanessa, not the women shirker he still seemed to be. He suddenly felt he actually WANTED to see Leeds again, wanted to feel her, smell her, hear her.   
  
Feel her lips on him again.   
  
Yep, no doubt about it. Good or bad, that date had opened a whole new territory.   
  
And far be it for a RDF pilot not to explore it!


End file.
